FUTURE INTERRUPTED
by Heartwings
Summary: An insert to the Future's End episode, several of our heroes spend a little more time on 20th century Earth than they did on TV.  This is a JC story with other Voyager characters as well.


Title: Future Interrupted

Author: Heartwings PG

Pairing: VOY J/C, Tuvok, Kim

Length: 44,483 words

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Paramount. I just let the 20th century keep them a little longer than Paramount did.

Dedication: This story is for Jadie, Al and of course KJ and Chak too- all good friends who inspire me!

This story is an add in alteration to the episode "Future's End". Voyager did not have a chance to beam Janeway and Chakotay back before Starling temporarily disrupted the ship's systems. Realizing that Janeway and Chakotay would never cooperate with him, Starling ordered his men to take them out to the desert, kill them and make sure the bodies were never found. The story begins with our heroes bound and gagged in the trunk of a car en route to the middle of the desert.

**FUTURE INTERRUPTED**

**CHAPTER ONE**

Kathryn slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes to darkness. She struggled to move, but her hands and feet were firmly bound together behind her back. The pain from being hog tied was excruciating and the heat and thin air were oppressive. From the sound of the engine and constant bumps, she surmised she must be in some sort of vehicle. She felt a warm body pressed up against her and wiggled to jostle it, but it neither moved nor made a sound. She knew it was Chakotay; his scent was as familiar and comforting to her as the aroma of a fresh pot of coffee. Pressing up closer to him, she could feel him breathing, a welcome sensation. Chakotay began to stir and she tried to speak to him, but the gag tied tightly around her head prevented anything beyond faint moans and groans. He groaned loudly and struggled against the ropes, trying to sit up, but the confines of the trunk allowed only a few inches of headroom. Kathryn wiggled over closer and put her head on his shoulder and softly sighed, to let him know that she was OK.

The heat in the car trunk was stifling and they drifted in and out of consciousness and were not certain how long they had been traveling, but it must have been hours. Chakotay awoke, realizing that the car had finally stopped. He rubbed the top of Kathryn's head with his chin to awaken her. They could hear the sound of voices outside, so they started thumping around and moaning loudly, making as much noise as possible in hopes of attracting attention. The trunk opened and they were blinded by the glare of sunlight as they were hauled from the trunk by Starling's men and dumped on the ground. Although less stale, the air outside the car was probably even hotter and brought no relief.

Chakotay chewed at his gag and was finally able to loosen it enough to spit it out. "Kathryn, are you OK?" She nodded yes. "Roll over and let me see if I can loosen your gag." It took a good five or ten minutes, but he was finally able to loosen the knot with his teeth and Kathryn was able to spit out her gag as well.

"Oh, Chakotay!" she croaked, "What's going on, where are we?"

"I don't know, out in the desert somewhere. By the sun, I'd say it's about 5 o'clock, so we must have been in the car for about five or six hours maybe. Kathryn, roll over into the shade on the side of the car." They wiggled over into the shade, giving them at least a little relief from the desert's heat. They could hear Starling's men off in the distance swearing about the heat as they dug a grave in the sand.

"Ouch!" Kathryn exclaimed quietly as she cut her hand on the underside of the car, trying to wiggle into its shade.

"What happened, are you OK?" asked Chakotay.

"I'm fine, I cut my hand on something sharp on the underside of the car. It's nothing." Kathryn's face lit up as she wiggled closer to the car and stuck her hands and feet farther under it. "There's something sharp under here, I'm going to try and see if I can use it to cut these ropes."

Chakotay looked at her with concern. "Be careful, Kathryn."

"I will! You worry too much, Chakotay. Besides, they're going to kill us anyhow if we can't escape, do you think it really matters if I cut myself to shreds first?" Kathryn rocked herself back and forth and soon the section of rope that joined her hands and feet together snapped. The pain as she suddenly shifted position was excruciating, but she bit her tongue and muffled her cry in the sand. Although it was difficult, she managed to slide her still bound hands under her bottom and get them to the front.

"Wow!" Chakotay exclaimed, "I never knew you were so….flexible, Kathryn."

"All those years of dance lessons didn't go to waste I guess," she gloated as she began chewing at the knots on her wrists. She and Chakotay chewed at the knots and soon had her hands free. They were still quite numb from being tightly bound for so long, but she had them both untied quickly. She tried to untie the remnants of the gag from behind her head, but it was firmly knotted into her hair, so Chakotay helped her.

"Oops!" he sighed as he realized he had also chewed off a hunk of her hair when he un-chewed her gag. He held it out apologetically.

Kathryn smiled as she ran her hands through her sweat matted hair. "Don't worry about it, Chakotay, I was thinking of cutting my hair anyhow. Chalk it up to another bad hair day!" He flashed her a scowl of disapproval as he placed the hair in his pocket. Kathryn peered around the car at Starling's men, who were still busy digging in the sand. "Well, I suggest we take this car and get the hell out of here, Chakotay."

"Sounds like a good idea to me, but do you know how to start it and get out of here fast? We're only going to have one chance at this and there are an awful lot of controls on the instrument panel, it's not your standard issue Starfleet shuttle. I'll keep an eye on our friends, look up in there and see if you can figure it out."

Kathryn crawled up into the open door, laid on the seat and looked around. There were a lot of controls and all they were labeled with was confusing little icons; it looked nothing like the hover cars or shuttlecraft she was familiar with. "Where's Tom Paris when you need him?" she asked as she rummaged through the considerable debris on the front seat. "Ah ha!" she exclaimed as she grabbed something and slid back down beside Chakotay. "It's the operator's manual, I'll have us out of here in no time."

"Hurry up, Kathryn! Oh jeez, that thing must be 200 pages long, is it indexed? How could an antique car be so complicated?" He tried to help her, but she snatched the book away from him.

"You keep an eye on them, I found what I need and I read fast, just let me do it." Kathryn quickly read through the book and, when she was satisfied she knew what she needed to know, she tore out a page and tossed the rest back in the car. "OK, let's go! I'll get in first and you second. I know how to activate the engine and get it going. It takes a key to activate it and they left it there; we'll be fine, just don't make any noise and wait until we're moving to shut the door."

Kathryn slithered into the driver's seat and kept her head down low, checking out the controls to be sure she knew what to do. Chakotay slid in after her and laid down on the seat. She put her hand on the key and glanced over at Chakotay. He crossed his fingers and gave her a nod so she started the car as he slammed the door. As she sat up she could see Starling's men running towards them, so she put the car into drive and punched the accelerator to the floor, leaving a wake of dust that, thankfully, prevented any of their shots from hitting the car by time they had retrieved their guns. The seat was so far back she slid off it when she hit the gas and couldn't really see over the steering wheel, but the car was going at warp speed and, fortunately, there was nothing to hit. As she slid the edge of her rear back onto the seat, her driving got better, a little better.

"Good thing Hansel and Gretel left us a trail of breadcrumbs to follow," said Kathryn as she steered to the right to follow the tracks the car had made on the way out. She turned the wheel too quickly and the car began to fishtail wildly. "Whoops, this doesn't handle quite like Voyager!"

Chakotay grasped the dash firmly with white knuckles and braced his feet. "Take it easy, Kathryn! Those guys are named Hansel and Gretel, how do you know?"

"No, Hansel and Gretel, from the ancient children's story. You know, the gingerbread house and the witch and Hansel and Gretel leave a trail of breadcrumbs so that they can find….."

"Kathryn," Chakotay interrupted, "I've seen my life flash before my eyes three times today, four if you count breakfast, so do you think we could have ancient legend time later? Oh, please be careful! Why don't you stop and we can look through what's in the car and see if there is any water and maybe you can adjust the seat to make it easier for you to reach the controls. As long as we've been driving, they're a good ten kilometers behind us; we're safe now. Oh, be careful, I don't think this thing is meant to leave the ground!"

"I'm just getting the hang of it, but I agree. Look in that book and see how to stop."

"Don't you know, Kathryn?"

"Not exactly, I only read the part about going. I thought this thing here was the decelerator, but apparently not." The windshield wipers swiped again. "If I stop pushing the accelerator, it keeps going, so it must have brakes, reverse thrusters, something."

Chakotay rummaged through the debris on the floor, found the book and began to read. He finally located the chapter on the brakes and explained it to Kathryn. She applied the brakes, but apparently the part about gradually slipped her mind and the car did a 360º and slid to a halt, spewing sand in every direction. Chakotay picked her up off the floor. "Set that mode selector thing at P and that should hold us in position. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. Let's look through all this junk and see if there's any food or water in here, I really need some water. With all this junk, there has to be some, those guys looked like they ate pretty well. I'll look up here and you look in the back seat." They sorted through old clothes, magazines, newspapers, tons of fast food trash and empty cigarette packs and assembled their treasures.

Chakotay crawled back into the front seat and presented his haul. "I have four cans of very hot beer, a bag of Cheese Doodles, part of some kind of sandwich that doesn't smell too good, a bag of beef jerky and a bottle of something green called Gatorade."

"Well, I have two pools of melted chocolate wrapped in paper, two packages of Twinkies, a half a bottle of something called Old Crow, a pack of gum, five full bottles of mountain spring water, a box of Marlboros and, best yet, half a cup of black coffee! I guess the water would be best to start with?"

They each enjoyed a bottle of water and a pack of Twinkies. Chakotay inspected the sandwich and, deciding it wasn't safe to eat, tossed it outside. Kathryn picked up the coffee, peeled back the lid, smelled it again and smiled.

"Kathryn, you're not going to drink that, are you? Here, if you're still thirsty, let's split another bottle of water." He twisted off the cap and offered it to her.

"No thanks. I know it's gross, but I'm going to drink this coffee; it smells alright and I really need it." Chakotay winced as she took a sip. "Ah, Neelix has made worse and, who knows, it may improve my driving… my mood- certainly. Get that book again and see if there's any way to adjust the seat, that should help too. We need to get going, it'll be dark soon and I'm not sure I'll be able to see the tracks in the sand to follow them in the dark and we have no idea how far we are from a paved road."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Chakotay replied as he settled back with the book. "Good news, Kathryn: 'The Lincoln Town Car is equipped with fully adjustable power seats'! Here, look at this, there should be a control on the side of the seat, to your left. Now you got it, that should be better. I agree, let's get going." Kathryn began driving again as Chakotay read the book and explored the car's features. "It has a glove box, why the devil would a car have a compartment just for gloves? There aren't even any gloves in here, but here's a bottle of vodka, some gooey melted red candy, a map….of Vancouver, some silver metallic disks wrapped in paper and one of their communicators."

Kathryn smiled. "Well, I don't think we're anywhere near Vancouver, so toss the map. I don't suppose we could call the ship on that thing and have them beam us up, could we?"

"I'm pretty sure they're out of its range, even if it had the right frequency, but it was a nice thought. You know, I wonder if their communicators are like ours and can be used to locate someone? Maybe we should toss that out of the car, just in case. I don't know if their technology had reached that point by now or not." Chakotay said as he inspected the cell phone.

"Good idea, make sure you smash it first and toss it out the window. What are we going to do when we get to a paved road; I haven't the foggiest idea where we are other than somewhere out in the desert obviously. If Starling's men had another communicator, they might have told him we escaped and they will be looking for us, so I don't think going back to Los Angeles would be a good idea; between here and there's the first place they'll look. I think we should go someplace else and wait for Voyager to find us and beam us back. Getting rid of the car ASAP would also be good as they might have reported it stolen and I certainly don't want to explain to the police that we're a couple of officers from a 24th century Starship up in orbit!"

Chakotay chuckled as he rubbed his chin, "Yeah, Kathryn, I'd like to see that one, especially when we get to the part about the 29th century technology we're trying to steal back and Braxton. How is Voyager supposed to find us? We don't have our tricorders or com badges, you know; have you thought of that? How exactly are they supposed to scan for two humans on a planet with a couple trillion more?"

Kathryn scowled as she took another sip of coffee. "Well, let me think on that one, I'm not too sure either, but I know they'll find a way. We just need to find a safe place to wait until they do. I trust them."

"So do I, but if I had to scan for a couple errant human crewman down here, I don't know how I'd do it; to the sensors all humans look alike, so to speak. Kathryn, look ahead, there's a paved road." Kathryn applied the brakes to slow the car, but the meaning of gradually had not quite sunk in yet and the Town Car's debris went flying again, along with Chakotay.

"Don't say a thing!" Kathryn glared as she finally stopped the car near the edge of the road. "Look, the tracks indicate that they came from that way, so I suggest we go the other way so that we don't go in the same direction as Starling's men, if he sent more, would be coming from."

"Sounds logical to me, Captain." said Chakotay as he tried to raise his eyebrows as only Tuvok could. "It's going to be dark soon, I think we should find a safe place to spend the night. If we're lucky, there may be a town or something up the road or at least somewhere where we can hide the car."

They drove for awhile, but as the sun started to set, there was still no sign of a town, of anything more than endless cacti, scrub brush and sand. The glow on the horizon indicated that there should be one, but it still loomed well in the distance. Kathryn was having trouble keeping the car on the road as she was beyond exhausted and the vital caffeine had long since left her bloodstream. "Well, Chakotay, I'd hoped to be back on Voyager by now, but it looks like that isn't going to happen, so I suggest we drive far enough off the road to be out of sight and camp out for the night."

Chakotay chuckled, "I thought you hated camping, Kathryn?"

"I do!" she replied as she eased the car off the road, drove over a hill and parked it, out of sight from the road. She got out and stretched her legs as she surveyed the landscape. "I don't suppose there's a bathroom around here?"

Chakotay laughed, reached in the car and handed her a box of tissues. "I'll wait in the car, but don't go too far, there may be wild animals around here. I'll fix dinner while you're gone, red wine or white?"

Kathryn playfully tapped her chin with her index finger as she thought. "Ummm….since it looks like I'll be having the _viande de boeuf séchée_

for dinner, red, definitely red!" She walked off a discrete distance from the car as Chakotay cleared all the debris off the back seat and assembled their food on a paper napkin: beef jerky, Cheese Doodles, two melted chocolate bars and two bottles of water. Kathryn returned and admired Chakotay's efforts. "Oh, Chakotay, you have really outdone yourself, the good china and everything!"

"I see you brought the flowers?" he said as he picked a leaf from her hair and inspected it. "I'm going to take a walk and I'll be right back, why don't you look in the trunk and see if there's anything useful? Perhaps our friends packed some emergency supplies."

Kathryn grabbed the operator's manual, figured out how to open the trunk and sifted through the contents. She retrieved several items and put some of the useless junk and trash from inside the car into the trunk. Pleased with her haul, she laid it out on the front seat. "Welcome back, Chakotay, look what I found! A big jug of water, a blanket, a medical kit and a flashlight that works…and my shoes!"

"Thank heavens for the water, I was afraid we'd have to drink that warm beer. It's getting chilly, I'll put it outside to cool and maybe we can have it later. Give me the medical kit and I can see to that cut on your hand for you, it really should be cleaned and have some antibiotic ointment applied and a bandage. You hold the light so I can see what I'm doing." Kathryn sat on the ground and Chakotay used a bit of water to clean up the cut and applied ointment and some bandages. "It doesn't look too bad, Kathryn, I think you'll live. Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

Kathryn laughed as she inspected his work. "I haven't heard that expression in years! My mother always used to say that after she doctored a cut or a skinned knee. Funniest thing is, after she did it, it always stopped hurting."

"Does it hurt, Kathryn?"

"Only a little, it isn't that deep."

Chakotay smiled and took her hand and gently kissed the bandage. "All better?" She nodded and returned his smile. "My mother used to do that too and, you're right, it always worked. Your dinner awaits, after you, Madame." They slid into the back seat and opened the beef jerky and the bag of Cheese Doodles and started eating. "How's your steak, Kathryn?"

She chewed, swallowed hard and took a big sip of water. "A little dry and chewy, I'm afraid. Be glad you're a vegetarian. How are those orange things, may I have one?" Chakotay offered her the bag. "Oh my! They sure don't taste like cheese! The consistency and texture kind of remind me of bulkhead insulation, well, not that I've actually eaten any of that. On second thought, you know how Neelix is when he's forced to improvise, maybe I have," she scowled as she handed the bag back.

"Well, at least it's not leola roots! We should probably save some of this for tomorrow, all we have after the chocolate is that sticky red candy and there wasn't much. We do have this Gatorade, it sounds like a drink for pets or something and looks like plasma coolant, but is says on here it's a 'refreshing sports drink for active people'. It's an electrolyte solution with a lot of sugar, it would probably be a good idea to drink some and, judging by the color, I'm sure Neelix would approve of it. After you."

Kathryn suspiciously eyed the Gatorade's green color and sniffed it, shrugged her shoulders and took a sip. "Not bad actually, just don't look at it while you drink it." She handed the bottle to Chakotay and he took a sip and nodded his approval. "So, Chakotay, what do you want to do after dinner? I'm tired but I'm not really sleepy yet; it's still pretty early."

He handed the Gatorade back to her. "Well, we should probably stay here in the car, it's getting cold outside. We could read, there's a couple of magazines here and I was looking forward to reading that book and learning more about our Lincoln Town Car. Do you want to try the chocolate now? It looks pretty gross, but it's solid again and I think it's clean."

Kathryn peeled the wrapper from her chocolate and ate a small piece. "Mmm, the only thing that would be better than this right now is…"

"Coffee." Chakotay interrupted.

Kathryn put her hand on his arm, "You know me so well, Chakotay."

"What are best friends for?" He smiled as he returned the gesture. Kathryn's face took on a blank stare, so he withdrew his hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to presume."

She smiled and took his hand, "No, I'm sorry. I was just thinking, you really are my best friend you know, the best friend I have ever had." She gently pressed his hand to her cheek.

Chakotay cradled her cheek as he spoke, "You're my best friend too, you gave me the most precious gift anyone has ever given me: peace." They settled back and savored their chocolate and read by the car's dome light as they passed the Gatorade back and forth.

Kathryn rapidly leafed through her magazine and tossed it aside. "It's a fishing magazine, it's boring, please hand me another one." Chakotay, rapt in the owner's manual, reached down on the floor without looking and handed her another magazine. "Oh my!" Kathryn gasped. "I don't think I want this one either! It's called Jugs, but it has nothing to do with pottery! Chakotay? Chakotay, are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" He looked up and she showed him the magazine. "Oops, sorry, I just grabbed it and didn't look, obviously our 'friends' don't have very sophisticated literary tastes. Wow, are those things real? Oh no, Janeway death glare, arm photon torpedoes, red alert!" he shouted as he playfully held up his hands in self defense. "Sorry, Kathryn, let me look through the rest. OK, you have your choice of Bodacious Biker Babes, Field and Stream, uh… I'm not even going to read you the title of this one, Golf Digest, or a Hooters on Parade and, no, it's not about owls."

Kathryn sighed. "Gimme the Field and Stream." She settled back with it as Chakotay got out of the car. "Where are you going?"

"Surprise- just wait." Kathryn watched as he sat in the front seat and fiddled with the controls. Chakotay had read about the radio and soon tuned in a wonderful classical station. Kathryn smiled in approval. On his way back, Chakotay retrieved two of the cans of beer, now suitably cooled by the chilly night air, handed one to Kathryn and they popped the tops and clinked their cans together. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" She took a sip and smiled with satisfaction, it actually was pretty good. "You know, if anyone ever told me I would be sitting in the back of a 20th century car out in the middle of nowhere, after a dinner of beef jerky, those cheesy things and melted chocolate, drinking a beer and reading a fishing magazine to Mahler, I would have told them they were crazy!"

"I dunno, I think I would believe the part about Mahler and the chocolate anyhow. I guess this is what Starfleet means in the recruitment vids about travel and adventure? Don't feel bad, I always figured if I got some beer and a pretty girl in the back seat of a car, we wouldn't exactly be reading fishing magazines!"

Kathryn grinned and put her nose in the air. "So, you think I'm easy, do you?"

Chakotay shook his head and thought for a moment. "Well, so far you're a cheap date and you're pretty, but if there's one thing I know, Kathryn Janeway is not easy."

She laughed. "Well, you're right about that, but don't let it get around that I'm a cheap date, OK? Thanks for the pretty part, but I don't feel…or smell too pretty right about now."

"You secret's safe with me! Want to finish off the beer? It won't be any good when it gets hot again when the sun comes up."

Kathryn drained her can and tossed it on the floor. "Might as well." Chakotay got the other two beers and they settled back and read as they polished them off. It was getting colder, so they put on some of the clothes Starling's men had left in the car and wrapped up in the blanket. Kathryn tossed down her Field and Stream. "Sorry, I need to take a walk again- the beer, you know."

Chakotay grinned and handed her the box of tissues. "OK, I'll get things stowed away for the night and put the trash in the trunk and, don't worry, I won't let anyone know Kathryn Janeway can't hold her beer." She put her hands on her hips and smirked at him. He smirked back. "Kathryn, that plaid sport coat you're wearing is about the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but you'll have to take it back; I bet Neelix will give you a week's replicator rations for it!"

She eyed the tacky polyester and tugged on the wide lapel, "For this? No, I don't think I'd settle for less than two! I'll be right back, don't go anywhere and, for your information, I can most certainly hold my beer, Commander!"

Chakotay shook his head as he put the empty beer cans and magazines in the trunk. Kathryn returned and stretched out in the backseat and he covered her with the blanket. "Kathryn, I'm going to take a walk, I'll be right back." He returned and settled into the passenger's seat in front and shut off the dome light. "Goodnight, Kathryn."

She sat up. "Chakotay, are you going to sleep up there? You couldn't possibly be comfortable, you can't even stretch out and you don't have a blanket. There's plenty of room back here and it'll be warmer. I don't mind, really."

"Are you sure, Kathryn?"

"Of course I'm sure, Survival 101- stay together for warmth." Chakotay settled in beside Kathryn and put his arm around her. She snuggled into his embrace. "Goodnight, Chakotay."

"Goodnight, Kathryn, sweet dreams."

**CHAPTER TWO**

Tom Paris pulled the VW Micro Bus over and let out a sigh of relief. "I think we lost them."

"Indeed, Mr. Paris," replied Tuvok as he cleared the debris from the dash that had fallen into his lap. "Miss Robinson, are you undamaged?"

Rain sat up in the backseat and poked her head through to the front. "Yeah, I'm fine, but who the hell were those guys and why are they trying to kill us?"

Tom smiled, "I dunno, seems we're not too popular, doesn't it? You stay here, I'm going to go into McDonald's and use the restroom and I'll call the cap…the boss and check in and I'll get us something to eat."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Mr. Paris, we just ate 2.3 hours ago, you could not possibly be hungry again." Tom shrugged his shoulders and headed for the McDonald's.

He returned a few minutes later with a bag and distributed the food. "Here you go, Rain, I got you a double quarter pounder with cheese value meal and I got you some fries and a Coke, Tuvok. I couldn't get in touch with the boss, but I checked in with headquarters and everything is OK there.

"Very well, Mr. Paris," replied Tuvok. "I do not believe I want to eat these fries, they contain an inordinate amount of trans fats and sodium and would no doubt be hazardous to my health."

When they finished eating, Rain went into the McDonald's to use the restroom. "Hey, Tuvok, can I have those fries if you're not gonna eat 'em? Thanks! I couldn't contact the captain or Chakotay and the ship hasn't heard from them either. They broke into Starling's office, so something must have gone wrong. They've got one transporter working again so I'm going to beam back to the ship to pick up some fresh phasers and see if we can locate the captain and Chakotay. I think it would be best if you stayed here and made sure that Rain is safe until I get back."

"Agreed," said Tuvok. "It is logical to assume that their mission failed and Starling has detained them. You should be able to use the ship's sensors to locate and retrieve them. I assume Miss Robinson will know a safe place in which to conceal ourselves until your return?"

"Let's hope she does, we can't exactly beam her up, but we need her, we need to keep her safe. We got her into this mess and we're going to need her help to get us out of it. I'll contact you in an hour and let you know what's going on. Let me get out of here before Rain gets back, just tell her 'headquarters' called and I had to go there for awhile; she'll buy it. Here's all the money that's left, I'll put it here in the ash tray, you might need it." Tom hurried to the privacy of the McDonald's dumpster enclosure and beamed back to Voyager.

Rain returned and hopped in the back seat. "Where's Tom?"

Tuvok cleared his throat. "He returned to headquarters to get um…more batteries for our 'laser pistols'; he will contact us in 57 minutes. He suggested that you know of a safe location where we might conceal this rather conspicuous vehicle until his return as they are no doubt searching for us. Do you know of such a place?"

Rain thought for a moment. "Yeah, we could just pull into any parking garage I guess. There's one a couple blocks away, just go straight and take a left at the next corner and…"

"Miss Robinson," Tuvok interrupted, "I suggest you drive."

"Don't tell me you can't drive?"

"Suffice it to say that Mr. Paris' driving skills and experience are superior to my own."

Rain climbed up into the driver's seat. "I get the picture!" She pulled into a parking garage and parked the VW at the end of a row, behind a large SUV, well out of sight. Tired from the ordeal, she climbed into the back seat and took a nap. Tuvok worked with his tricorder as he considered their options.

"Voyager to Tuvok," his com badge chirped.

Tuvok quietly stepped out of the van and walked out of earshot. "Tuvok here, what is the situation, Lt. Paris?"

"Well, we located the captain and Chakotay's com badges, phasers and tricorders at Starling's office and beamed them up, but that's all we got. When we tried to download the tricorders we also somehow downloaded a virus and it's crashed half the systems on the ship and disrupted the gel pack interfaces and they're all offline; bad went to worse. Right now we don't have sensors, transporters, warp drive or even weapons. Engineering's working on it, but B'Elanna said it's like nothing she's ever seen, it's self replicating and apparently mutates with each replication. It must be some 29th century technology that Starling got from Braxton's ship; it's certainly not 20th century technology! Whatever he did before, everything's totally fried now."

"Understood. I shall stay here and see to Miss Robinson's safety. I shall contact you again in 24 hours and advise you of our situation. Tuvok out." Tuvok turned around to return to the van and was confronted by six large gang bangers, several of them armed with knives and one with a handgun.

"Hands up! Give us your wallet and the bling bling!" one of them demanded as he threatened Tuvok with the gun.

Tuvok raised his hands as instructed. "I regret to inform you, Sir, that I do not have a wallet…nor any bling. I suggest you attempt to rob someone else."

"Don't get smart with me, Homey, hand it over and nobody gets hurt." The thugs moved closer.

"As I stated, I have nothing of value to give you." They came at Tuvok and he attempted to draw his phaser, but there were too many and they restrained him, held a knife to his throat and searched his pockets, taking the contents: his tricorder, phaser and com badge.

"This is all you got, Homey?"

"Yes, you have it, there is no need to injure me." said Tuvok as the robber drew the knife closer to his throat. Two of the thugs punched him in the stomach and they threw him to the ground as the group ran away, jumped in their van and made their escape. Tuvok got up, regained his composure and returned to the van.

The commotion awoke Rain and she asked, "What happened, what was that, have they found us?"

"Negative, however I was robbed and they were apparently not satisfied with the items they stole and the fact that I did not have any money, however I was not seriously injured."

Rain jumped into the driver's seat. "C'mon let's get out of here. We can go to my friend Mad Dog's place and crash there, he's in Europe for the summer. It's way up in Timber Cove, they'll never find us there, we'll be safe. I go up there on weekends to decompress sometimes."

**CHAPTER THREE**

Janeway and Chakotay awoke with the morning light and heat. They finished off the Gatorade and candy for breakfast and got back on the road, heading towards the city lights' glow they had seen on the horizon the night before. They finally passed a sign.

"Las Vegas, 23 miles, now we know where we are!" exclaimed Kathryn.

"How far is a mile?"

"Gosh, I'm not sure, about two kilometers I think. I have trouble remembering those old style units of measure, they didn't make any sense. Too bad we don't have a tricorder, we could look it up. When we get there, we're going to need money, they still use it here. I think those things you found in that compartment are money, but what we really need is paper money, I don't think the coins are worth much. I'm not sure what the paper money looked like, but it will say United States and some amount of dollars on it. Look through everything and see what you can find, without it we can't buy any food…or coffee," she said with a smile.

Chakotay rummaged through the debris, clothing pockets and all the compartments and assembled his cache on a handkerchief. "Well, we have about seventeen dollars and some more coins that don't say how much they're worth, but they're the small ones, so probably not much more. How much is seventeen dollars? Is it a lot?"

"I'm not sure, we'll find out soon enough. I can see some buildings up ahead. I'll try to find something that sells food and has a bathroom, so we can get something to eat and drink and wash up." Kathryn drove for awhile until she finally decided that Ralph's Shop and Save looked good. She parked the car and they took turns using the rest room and selected some food and drinks. They quickly found out seventeen dollars and some odd change wasn't much. As they came out of the market they noticed a police car parked next to the Lincoln Town Car and two officers looking inside it.

Kathryn grabbed Chakotay's arm and hurried him off in the opposite direction. "Those men over by the car are police officers, I think we need to get out of here as fast as we can. They must have reported the car stolen and we certainly can't afford any trouble with the local authorities."

Kathryn and Chakotay turned off the main road and went through an alley and several side streets and finally came to a park that was out of sight of the street. "This looks like a good spot for a picnic!" said Kathryn as she plopped down beneath a shady tree and started unpacking their bags. They enjoyed a picnic lunch together, convinced that they were safe, at least for the time being.

Chakotay sat back on his elbows as he finished an apple. "This is wonderful, I haven't had a real apple in years, I'd forgotten how good they are! Do you want a bite?"

"Please," said Kathryn as she enjoyed a bite and reached into her bag and pulled out a banana. "I don't care what they say about replicators, replicated food is never as good as the real thing!" She broke off a piece of the banana and handed it to Chakotay. "Well, what are we going to do now? The sign at the entrance said the park closes at dusk, so we can't camp out here and I don't think we have enough money for a hotel. Las Vegas was a tourist trap and I would imagine all the hotels are very expensive."

Chakotay thought for a moment and smiled as an idea struck him. "Well, we could steal another car!" Kathryn scowled at him. "I was just kidding, I don't know, I doubt it gets as cold here in the city at night as it does out in the desert, so maybe we can just sleep outside somewhere or find some place that stays open all night and hang out there, an all night café or something. This is your planet, not mine, do you have any ideas?"

"Not exactly, I've never been hiding out from the police before, that's more your specialty as I recall. Since we can stay here until dark, why don't we try to get a little sleep in case we end up having to stay up all night? I think we have enough food for two days, maybe three if we ration it. We'll save our juice bottles so we can get water at public restrooms for free; can you believe people here actually pay more than a dollar a bottle for water! I think the casinos were open all night even back then, er… now, so maybe we can hang out in some of them if we pretend to be gambling."

Kathryn and Chakotay spent the afternoon in the park, sleeping away the hottest part. As the sun began to set they noticed everyone was leaving, so they picked up their bags of food and their jackets and set off down the street, towards downtown. They attempted to enter several casinos, but the security guards turned them away each time, telling them that "street people" were not allowed. They tried to argue that they were just tourists but their dirty clothes, unkempt hair and the smell from not having been able to bathe properly for two days said otherwise. Dejected that their plan for the night wasn't going to work, they walked until they were tired and entered a truck stop all night restaurant for some coffee. The hostess eyed them suspiciously, but they didn't look or smell worse than some of the truckers, so she seated them in a booth and they ordered coffee.

Kathryn smiled as she was rejuvenated, "A bottomless cup of coffee, I like that concept! Maybe someone in the 24th century should give it some thought?"

Chakotay chuckled into his cup, "Wait until they find out how much you can drink, that will deep six it right away- not economically feasible! I wish we had more money, did you see the pies and pastries in the display case at the counter?"

"Yes!" She licked her lips. "Can you imagine a nice slice of real non-replicated pecan pie, with whipped cream, no with ice cream! How much money do we have left?"

Chakotay counted the money out on the table. "Eight dollars and some coins that I don't know how much they are, but we have to pay for the coffee out of it. I don't think that we'll last that long on it, I wonder when Voyager will find us- for that matter, I wonder how? If I were up there looking for two human crewmen, I don't know what I'd scan for; we're just like everyone else here to the sensors."

Kathryn let out her breath slowly as she turned her coffee mug in circles on the table. "I know. They could beam down search parties, but they'd probably send them where we last were and going back there wouldn't be a good idea, obviously. If they reported the car stolen and us breaking into Starling's office, the police might even be looking for us as car thieves, burglars, saboteurs, who knows what! I think maybe we should start to think about what we're going to do if we're stuck here for awhile."

"Well," he held out their money, "We're going to need to get more of this as it seems you can't get anything without it and I doubt they'll let us live here in this restaurant."

"Agreed, food and shelter, first order of business. The server seems rather pleasant, perhaps we could ask her about in inexpensive place to stay and, I hate to say this, but we might have to find some sort of jobs or something; I'm sure someone must need a good starship captain and first officer."

Chakotay grinned and took another sip. "Yeah, right, I think I saw a help wanted sign for a starship captain back at that last casino!" The waitress came and refilled their cups. "Thank you. Excuse me, but we're from out of town so we don't know the area well, do you know of an inexpensive place to stay around here?"

"Sure, the truck stop motel behind here is only $49 a night, not too clean, but it's OK," replied the waitress.

"Oh," Chakotay sighed, "do you know of any place less than that? We don't have that much money."

The waitress eyed them and smiled. "So, down on your luck, how much do you have?"

"Probably about $5 and some coins after we pay for the coffee." He held out their money to show her.

Kathryn interrupted, "We're from out of town, our car and all our luggage were stolen; this money is all we have. We have… friends who are going to pick us up, but it might take awhile."

The waitress thought for a moment and looked at Chakotay. "Well, we need a dishwasher here. Doesn't pay much, but you get free meals. You got a green card, Ponch?"

"My name is Chakotay, Ma'am. What's a green card?"

"You know, a green card, so's they know you're not an illegal alien. We don't hire illegal aliens here."

"No, I don't have a green card, but we're not aliens, we're from…"

"Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana!" interrupted Kathryn. "We don't have any documents, they were in the car when it was stolen. Isn't there any way one of us could work here? It should be obvious I'm American, Midwest accent and all!" Kathryn smiled warmly.

The waitress looked her up and down. "Well, I can tell you're too scrawny, you'd never be able to lift the dish racks; it's a man's job, Honey. Anyhow, if you don't have a social security card and ID and all, we can't hire you either. You need that to get a job. No place is gonna hire Ponch here even though his English is so good, nobody in Vegas will mess with illegal Mexicans anymore, it's too risky nowadays."

"I'm not Mexican and my name isn't Ponch, it's Chakotay, Ma'am. I'm an Indian, a native American." Chakotay realized his remark sounded a bit rude, so he softened it with a smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. We've just had a bad day."

The waitress returned his smile. "It's OK, neither did I. You just look so much like Ponch, I bet you get it a lot, probably drives you nuts. I'm sorry." Chakotay and Kathryn met her with blank stares. "You know, Ponch, the guy on CHIPS, you look just like him, only he don't have the tattoo."

Chakotay was still confused. "Well, thanks, I'm Chakotay and this is Kathryn and, as she said, we're from Indiana."

The waitress topped off their coffees again. "Nice to meet you, I'm Natalie. I got to get back to work or the boss will bitch, but I'll be back on my break in a few minutes and I'll see if I can find some way to help you guys out. I can tell you're nice folks, just down on your luck, that's all."

Kathryn touched her hand as she left, "Thank you so much, Natalie! Well, Chakotay, maybe our luck is about to change?"

He took her hand, "I hope so, couldn't get much worse, but if we need some kind of documents to get a job, that could be a problem."

They discussed their options, which really were few, and drooled over the food served to a nearby table. They had eaten, but not that much, and were hungry again at the sight of food. The group at the next table paid their check and left in a rush, leaving most of their meal uneaten. Kathryn and Chakotay contemplated taking some of it, but decided against it as it might be illegal and they did not need any trouble.

Natalie returned in about a half hour with more coffee and two huge slices of apple pie. She served the pie, refilled their coffee cups and sat down with them, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "I saw you eyeing their leftovers and figured if you's hungry enough to eat someone's leftovers, you could probably use this. It's a little stale and they were going to throw it out anyhow; it's on the house."

Kathryn's mouth watered. "Thank you so much! Yes, we were a little bit hungry." She dug into her pie with a vengeance.

"How do you eat like that and stay so skinny?" asked Natalie.

Chakotay laughed, "She only eats like that every two or three days, most of the time I have to sit on her to get her to eat." Kathryn gave him a smirk, which didn't come off well with a mouth full of pie.

Natalie handed them a piece of paper. "I think I found a place you can stay for free, I wrote out how to get there for you. It's not that far away, you can walk. Jamal in the kitchen told me about it, said he used to stay there before he went to rehab and got cleaned up. It's Our Lady of Perpetual Need, a homeless shelter run by nuns, you can stay there for free and they feed you. He said the food's not too good, but it's OK clean and the nuns are nice enough. Jamal said if you want to stay there tonight you'd better hurry up 'cause they fill up most nights."

Kathryn shoved the last bite of pie into her mouth. "Thank you, Natalie, thank you so much!"

"How much is the bill?" asked Chakotay as he took out their money.

Natalie got up and smiled, "Oh, no problem, I got it covered. You're a nice couple and there's been times in my life when I needed a little help too, what goes around comes around, you know! I have to get back to work, I hope you two get back on your feet real soon." Chakotay and Kathryn shook hands with her and thanked her. "You're welcome, be sure to stop by again and let me know you made out OK, good luck!"

They hurried to the shelter, with each block they passed the neighborhood looked less and less hospitable. The building was dimly lit and looked terribly run down and less than inviting, but it would have to do so they went in and were greeted by a small nun seated at a large desk.

"Good evening, I'm Sister Agatha, may I help you?"

Kathryn stepped forward. "Yes Ma'am, you see, we're tourists and our car was stolen and it had all our luggage and money and documents in it and…"

Sister Agatha interrupted her, "That's OK, Dear, I can see you're in need and we still have room, you can stay here; we don't ask any questions about what brings people to our door. I'm afraid you missed dinner, but Sister Mary Judith can probably find you something in the kitchen if you're hungry."

Chakotay opened his bag to show her. "No, but thank you, Ma'am, we have some food."

"Good enough! Well, we have some rules here: absolutely no alcohol, no drugs and no weapons. Morning prayers are at 7 and breakfast is at 7:30. There's showers so you can wash up and Sister Berta upstairs will get you something if you have lice."

Chakotay took Kathryn's arm. "Please, is there some way we could stay together?"

Agatha smiled, "I'm sorry, but we don't have facilities for families here. Don't worry, she'll be fine, Sister Berta keeps a watch so none of the men can sneak up to the third floor; she'll be safe, I promise you. It looks like you two could really use a good wash, so go on."

"Thank you, Sister." said Kathryn.

"The stairs are just through there, sleep well, the Lord be with you."

Kathryn and Chakotay went up the stairs and stopped at the second floor, where Sister Berta sat at a small desk. They nodded to her and stepped away. She nodded back but did not smile, it was clear Sister Berta was a force to be reckoned with. Chakotay put his hand on Kathryn's shoulder. "Well, looking at Sister Berta over there and knowing she keeps watch, I think you'll be perfectly safe. I'll see you in the morning, goodnight, Kathryn."

Kathryn squeezed his hand. "Goodnight, Chakotay, and thanks for taking such good care of me, not that I can't take care of myself, mind you, but thank you anyhow."

"What are friends for? Sleep well, Kathryn, I'll see you at breakfast."

Kathryn and Chakotay spent a week at the shelter. The conditions and the food were tolerable, but some of the other residents there left a lot to be desired and they made no friends. The Sisters were able to provide them with a few necessities, but not much. Fearing the police might be looking for them, they stayed inside most of the time and talked, played cards, read and helped the nuns with their daily chores. Chakotay was able to find a few odd jobs as some of the local businesses hired people from the shelter to clean up, unload trucks and such and paid cash, no questions asked. Feeling wealthy now with about $50, they decided to go back to the truck stop restaurant one evening after dinner for some coffee and dessert and to thank Natalie for her help.

They walked in and were greeted by Natalie, coffee pot in hand. "Well, if it isn't Ponch and Judy again! Please come in, your 'usual' table is free!"

Kathryn smiled warmly, "Hello, Natalie, we just had to stop by to say hello and to thank you…and we're dying for some of your delicious coffee!"

Natalie grabbed two cups and menus on the way, seated them at their booth and poured two steaming bottomless cups of heaven. "I'm sorry, you're Kathryn and Chakotay right? Couldn't forget a name like Chakotay, so unusual, and I could never forget such a handsome face. You're a lucky woman, Kathryn, to have such a handsome feller on your arm! Tell me, are you two back on your feet yet? I really didn't expect to see you again, I figured your friends would pick you up and you'd be back home in Indiana by now."

"Well, they were delayed, apparently; we really expected to be back home by now too," said Chakotay as he took a sip. "Natalie, you must see hundreds of people a day, I'm surprised you remembered our names! This really is good coffee, although Kathryn here is the real expert on coffee."

"I am," she boasted, "and this is excellent coffee!"

Natalie laughed. "Thanks, I'll tell Hassan. He barely speaks English, but he makes a good cup of coffee. Truck stops always have good coffee, that's what keeps the truckers coming back! As for remembering names, that's easy, customers like it when you remember their names, keeps 'em coming back too and they tip better. We're starting to get pretty busy, what can I get you?"

They looked at the menus and Kathryn's face lit up. "I'd like a slice of pecan pie, please. Mmm…how much extra would it be to get a scoop of ice cream on it?"

Natalie leaned in close to her, "For you, Honey, nothing extra."

Chakotay cleared his throat, "No, it's OK, it's nice of you to offer, but I got some work here and there, we have more money now, I want to pay for what we eat. I'd like a slice of blueberry pie please, no ice cream."

"Coming right up!" said Natalie as she hurried off.

They enjoyed the pie. The Sisters at Our Lady of Perpetual Need might have been wonderful ladies, but they were none too talented in the kitchen and the meals the last week had been filling, but short on taste. One evening, to pass the time, Kathryn and Chakotay had a heated debate over who was the better cook, Neelix or Sister Mary Judith. The good Sister won, but only by a leola root technicality.

Natalie returned in a few minutes with more coffee and a smiling trucker in tow. "I thought you'd like to meet a friend, this is Al Hartman, he's a real sweetheart, been coming here for years. Anyhow, he drives a big rig and I thought maybe he could help you out with a ride home or at least in the right direction; he travels all over the country. We're out of tables, do you mind if he sits with you?"

"Not at all." said Chakotay as he stood, shook his hand and greeted him. "Hello, I'm Chakotay and this is Kathryn."

Al slid in next to Chakotay. "Nice to meet you. Nat tells me you're a nice couple that ran into some troubles and you need a ride home. Maybe I can help you out, where do you live?"

"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Hartman," replied Kathryn. "Actually we don't exactly have a home right now, we're staying at a shelter a few kilom…miles away. I'm…we're from Indiana, but we were um… living in a car until it was stolen at a store a week ago. All our ID was in the car too, so we're having trouble finding work."

"Please call me Al. I see your problem. Well, I'm on my way to a farm in New Mexico first thing tomorrow to pick up a load. They're always hiring and they mostly hire illegals, so you don't need a green card or anything- they don't ask any questions… and neither do I. Of course, they don't pay minimum and the work is hard, but it's not as bad as some of the other places. If you want, I can take you down there. I'll be going back again in a week, so if you don't like it, I'll pick you up the next time and can drop you off here or someplace along the way. It'd be no trouble, I'd enjoy the company. I'm going to go say hi to a couple of friends over there, why don't you two discuss it and let me know. I'll be right back, I already ordered."

Kathryn and Chakotay discussed the option; they needed money, hard work certainly didn't scare them and they knew the possibility of getting jobs in Las Vegas without ID was not good. If the police were indeed looking for them, it also made sense to get out of town. Neither of them were really city people and life on a farm sounded attractive, so they decided to take Al up on his offer. They made arrangements to meet him at the truck stop early the next morning and went back to the shelter for what they hoped would be their last night there.

In the early morning they packed their few belongings, thanked the Sisters, left them some money in the offering box and headed out for the truck stop. As promised, Al was there and he bought them breakfast. Natalie wasn't working, so they left her a thank you note. Al loaded them in the cab of his truck and they hit the road, New Mexico bound. Riding in the truck with Al proved to be a unique adventure, for he had seen most of the country and was a master storyteller. The long trip seemed to be over almost as soon as it began. Al left them at the personnel office and said his fond goodbyes as he moved on to the farm's warehouse to pick up his load.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"Miss Robinson, how much farther is your friend's home?"

"Only about ten more miles, chill out Tuvok! Here, have some M&Ms."

"No, thank you, I avoid copious amounts of carbohydrates devoid of nutritional value whenever possible. I am curious, why is it you persist in reckoning distance in miles; the metric system is much more logical and efficient. Certainly, as a scientist, you can appreciate that."

"Well, I'm just used to miles I guess, but it's about 16 kilometers away, if that makes you feel better, Mr. Metric System. What, are you with the CIA, NSA, Interpol, the food police or what?"

"Excuse me?" asked Tuvok as he raised an eyebrow.

"Who **DO** you work for, Agent Tuvok?" asked Rain as she ate another handful of M&Ms and washed them down with her Slurpee.

"I regret, that is classified information I am not at liberty to divulge."

"That figures. OK, let's try another question, where are you from?"

Tuvok thought for a moment. "I most recently lived in San Francisco, however my…work has kept me traveling extensively for the past few years. Wouldn't your driving be more efficient if you concentrated solely upon it instead of interrogating me at the same time?"

"Well, excuuuse me! I was just trying to make conversation."

Rain drove on and finally turned the van down a dirt road and drove a short distance to a mobile home nestled among some large pine trees. There was a ramshackle porch attached to the front and the yard was littered with every manner of debris, from discarded appliances to old car parts and logs awaiting splitting. Tuvok got out of the van and surveyed the property.

"Your friend's home has wheels?"

"Well, duh, that's why they call it a mobile home! Here, hold my bag, the key is hidden here in the refrigerator, I'll look for it."

"He keeps his refrigeration unit outside on the porch? Is that not rather inconvenient or am I to assume that the porch also serves as the kitchen?"

"No, it's just for beer, it's great! OK, here's the key, go on inside and I'll hide the van in the barn out back. Make yourself at home."

Tuvok entered and surveyed the home. It was roomier than he expected it would be, but it also looked like it had taken a few hits with the inertial dampeners offline. He knew that Humans tended to be less fastidious than Vulcans, but he had never seen anything like Mad Dog's home. Tuvok began to pick up some of the debris from the living room floor and pile it on a discarded pizza box as Rain entered.

"Hey, Tuvok, I told you to make yourself at home."

"I have. If this were my home, I would be cleaning it."

Rain threw her hands into the air, "Do you always have to be so damn anal?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, never mind! C'mon, this is Mad Dog's room, you can sleep in here. His clothes will probably fit you, so feel free to borrow whatever you need. I stay in the spare bedroom when I'm here and I keep some stuff here, so I'm fine. I'll take Mad Dog's truck and go into town and get us some food and stuff, is there anything you need?"

"Cleaning supplies. I shall also require a toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor and some soap. Please take the money Mr. Paris left in the van's 'cash tray' for my expenses. Are you certain Mr. Dog will not mind if I borrow his clothing?"

"No, just help yourself. I'll be back in an hour or two. There's plenty of beer in the fridge on the porch and I put the leftover food from the van in the kitchen and I'll get a pizza on the way back. Do you like pepperoni and anchovies?"

"No, I am a vegetarian and I do not care for spicy food, nor do I eat foods that are high in saturated fats or…"

"I got it, I got it!" Rain interrupted as she left.

Tuvok took a shower and selected some jeans and a T shirt from Mad Dog's dubious wardrobe, which was almost entirely jeans and T shirts. Rain was right, the clothes fit him well, even if they weren't to his liking. He found the trash bags and some cleaning supplies and set to putting the house in order. His methodical tactics and efficiency soon had the house in a reasonable state of order.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Rain as she entered and dropped the grocery bags. "Did I come home to the wrong place or what? Awesome, Agent Tuvok, this is totally mind blowingly majorly awesome! Now I know, that boss you and Tom kept talking about must be Martha Stewart!"

"Please allow me to assist you with the shopping bags. My boss' name is Kathryn Janeway; I do not know anyone named Martha Stewart," said Tuvok as he started unpacking the groceries.

Rain looked at him with amazement. "Don't tell me you of all people don't know who Martha Stewart is!"

"Your statement is illogical and redundant, Miss Robinson, for I have already told you that I do not know who Martha Stewart is. Where would you like me to put the…Froot Loops?" Tuvok examined the box suspiciously, "These do not look like any fruit I am familiar with... and furthermore, there is an orthographic error on the package."

"It's cereal. Let me see, you don't know who Martha Stewart is, can't drive, don't know about music, video games or TV, have never heard of a Slurpee, M&Ms, a double stuffed chimichanga, McDonalds, Froot Loops or a mobile home. Tuvok, Dude, what planet are you from? Are you Amish or something?

"If Amish means that I have been so busy with my work that I have not had time to familiarize myself with popular contemporary culture, then my reply would be yes." Tuvok held up a jar of Skippy. "I do know what peanut butter is, where shall I stow it?"

"Put it on the top shelf. I have some bad news and some good news. All my bank accounts and credit cards are frozen, probably because of Starling, so now we're pretty much broke unless Mad Dog has anything stashed around here. Thanks to you guys, I'm sure I've lost my job because they'll think I'm the one that wiped the computer and there's no way in hell I'm going back to LA any time soon, so we have a problem. The good news is, if we show up at 10 tomorrow, we have jobs, unless of course your secret 'agency' could wire you some money?"

"That would be difficult, since they do not know where I am and I have no means to contact them at the present time. Our 'cell phones' were on a special secret agent frequency, of course."

The next morning Rain and Tuvok drove into Timber Cove. It was a small rural community in the mountains, quite charming actually. Rain pulled into the parking lot, parked the truck and they got out.

Tuvok surveyed the establishment. "Am I correct in assuming that our place of employment is Buddy's Car Wash?"

"It will be, if you don't mess it up. Buddy is Mad Dog's cousin or something, I ran into him at the grocery store yesterday and he said he needed help. Let me do all the talking, if he thinks you're a freakasaurus he might not hire you. You're damn good at cleaning, so he should be thrilled. Keep your ears covered up whatever you do and don't say anything about the mess in his office. What's with your ears anyhow, did you have Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon do them or something?"

"As I said, Miss Robinson, it is a family trait; surely you must understand basic genetics. I am quite 'sensitive' about them as Mr. Paris said and I do not care to discuss it. Who is Michael Jackson?"

"You're weird, Tuvok, you're totally weird…but in a good way!"

Buddy proved to be the sort that ran a loose ship and did not ask many questions and was not bothered by the fact that Tuvok had no ID. Rain was hired full time as the cashier and Tuvok was hired part time to vacuum out the interior of the cars before they went through the car wash.

At the end of the of the day Buddy called Tuvok into the office. He asked him to sit, but of course he preferred to stand. Tuvok emptied the pockets of his carwash coveralls and handed Buddy a wad of bills and change.

"Mr. Buddy, I believe this is yours. Many of the customers insisted upon giving me money, however I fail to see the logic of this as you have hired Miss Robinson to collect the fee for the car wash prior to the vehicle entering the line."

Buddy shook his head in disbelief as he took a swig from his beer. "They're tips, Tuvok, you can keep them. I received a lot of compliments, the customers are very happy with the job you do and I didn't receive one complaint about you stealing anything from the cars like the last guy."

"Why would I steal anything from the customers' cars? If you are paying me, I fail to see the logic of the customers giving me additional money for doing my job.

Buddy laughed, "Well, it's not like I'm paying you that much. The customers just appreciate the good job you do, so they give you a little extra, that's how it works. If you'd get a personality and smooze them a little bit, you'd make even more, especially from the ladies."

"Excuse me, smooze?"

"You're an odd one, Tuvok! You know, smooze, walk up and say 'Hi, how are you?', 'that's a really nice car you have' or 'I like your tie', you know, stuff like that. You sure are a fish out of water around here, where the heck are you from anyhow?"

"You will have to forgive me, I have only recently arrived in this area. I am still quite…Amish."

Buddy laughed hysterically. "Shit, I never seen a black Amish dude before! Makes sense I guess, you ain't like regular folks, that's for sure; must be from back east, and Tuvok does sound like an Amish name. Well, you keep doing a good job and maybe I'll be able to give you more hours and get rid of some of the deadwood around here."

Tuvok walked out to the truck, where Rain was already waiting for him. "So, Agent Tuvok, how was your first day of work? Buddy said you did real good."

Tuvok showed her his wad of tips. "It was satisfactory, the job is not difficult, however I seem to be the only person employed at the carwash beside yourself who speaks English. Since I have this money, please allow me to purchase our evening meal. Our kitchen will require further cleaning and application of a disinfectant before it is safe to prepare food there."

"Cool, I know just where I want to eat, I've been dying for a Gut Buster Burger all day! Don't worry, Buster Burger has salads and veggie burgers too and you can get a baked potato instead of fries. Really, Tuvok, I'm not trying to kill you!"

Tuvok and Rain drove to Buster Burger, ordered their meals and sat at a booth to eat. Apparently Tuvok found the food to be tolerable as he did not complain once. Rain finished her Gut Buster Burger and, still hungry, went back for a second. She handed Tuvok a cup of hot tea. "Here, I heard you mention to Tom that you liked tea. While I was up there I talked to the manager and he said he's hiring, so you could work here the days you don't work at Buddy's. He's not particular, so he doesn't care that you're weird and don't have ID and he pays more than the car wash, plus you get free meals. We're going to need more money than what we're making at the car wash, so do you want to work here too?"

"That would be acceptable. I am not certain when Mr. Paris will be returning, so it is logical that I must endeavor to meet our economic needs until he does. Thank you for the tea. I do, in fact, enjoy tea frequently."

"Cool, well let's go home, I wanna put my feet up and watch some TV and I guess you can find something to disinfect or alphabetize or something."

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Kathryn, this doesn't look like any farm I've ever seen, certainly not like the pictures you showed me of your family's farm."

"Definitely not like our farm! This must be one of those giant factory farms, but, I swear, it looks more like a prison with all the fences and dreary concrete and metal buildings. There's nothing that looks remotely like a barn."

"Well, we don't have to stay here, if we hurry we can catch Al before he leaves and get a ride back to Las Vegas or wherever he's going."

"No, Chakotay, we need to get some money, so I say we stay. If it's that bad, we only have to stay for a week at the most. Voyager has to be looking for us, we might not even be here that long." Kathryn picked up her bag and headed for the door of the personnel office. Chakotay reluctantly picked up his bag and followed her. He most certainly didn't agree with her, but technically she was in command, so he decided it was best not to challenge her authority, at least not yet.

As Al had told them, they were asked no questions about their immigration status and were immediately hired. Since they were both literate and English speaking, the personnel manager implied that, if they did a good job, they could soon have the opportunity for supervisory positions. They were taken to the mess hall since it was almost time for dinner and given some information to read and their uniform coveralls and work boots. Their guide told them someone would show them to the dormitories after dinner. They sat at a table and looked over the material they had been given.

Chakotay immediately tossed his down. "Kathryn, this is all in Spanish, I can't read it!"

"So it is. Well, I took two years of Spanish in high school, so let's see what I can make out, although I'd do better if it were in French." Kathryn skimmed through one set of papers. "This is about the farm, but about all I can get out of it is that they grow onions here, a lot of them. 'Cebollas' means onions, that's probably a good word for you to know." She put that set down and looked at another. "'Reglas', these are the rules; let's hope we can get copies in English. OK, breakfast is at 5:30, lunch at noon and dinner at 7:30, I know those words. Something happens at 2100, 9pm, but I don't know what it means…the hour of something or other. There's something in here about the bathroom…no alcoholic beverages…don't go out, no don't go away from the dormitories….I don't know, Chakotay, my Spanish is pretty rusty; high school was a long time ago!" she said with an apologetic grin.

"Thanks for trying, at least you can get the gist of it. I can figure this form out, we're both assigned to the department of processing, isn't that what this means?" Kathryn looked and nodded her head. "Good, at least we'll be working together. My dormitory assignment is H-216 and yours is M-56, I don't think we're even in the same building if I'm reading this map of the farm right."

Kathryn looked at the map. "You are, they have separate buildings for men and women. The men's building is a lot larger, so most of the employees must be men. I'm sure it's like Al said and they hire mostly illegal immigrants here. I still haven't figured out the value of things, but it doesn't sound like they pay that much." A bell sounded and soon people started filing in for dinner, so they fell in, grabbed trays, went through the serving line and sat back down at the same table.

Chakotay took a few bites and winced, "Kathryn, this is awful!"

"It's horrid, I don't even know what it is, but I think there's meat in it, so give me your brown stuff and you can have my rice and beans. Here, take my bread too, it's not that bad and the milk is OK, no worse than replicated milk anyhow. They traded food, but Chakotay insisted that Kathryn keep her bread.

They finished their dinners and had a few minutes to go over the papers they had been given before a woman arrived to take them to their respective dorms. They said their hasty goodbyes and agreed to wait for one another outside of the mess hall for breakfast. The dorms were nothing more than large rooms full of numbered bunks, with lockers lining the walls for the storage of personal items and some tables with benches off to one side. The bathroom featured communal showers and no privacy.

Kathryn stowed her few belongings, took a shower and settled into her bunk with a book the nuns had given her. The woman in the bunk opposite hers came over and introduced herself as Rosita, but she spoke no English so Kathryn did her best to communicate with her limited Spanish. About all she got was that Rosita was 23 years old, from Mexico City, had two young children and worked where they cleaned the onions.

Chakotay showered and settled in as well. A man offered him a newspaper, but it was in Spanish, so he did his best to politely refuse. He couldn't understand the men, but they got a good laugh out of someone who looked like him and didn't speak Spanish. He did manage to get across that he was an Indian, which seemed to bode well. Several of the men proudly showed him photographs of women and children and he clearly understood how much they must miss their families.

A bell rang at 5am to awaken the workers and there was a mad rush to use the bathroom, get dressed and get to the mess hall for breakfast. Kathryn liked to linger in bed for a bit before getting up and paid the price by having to wait her turn in the bathroom, so she was late arriving at the mess hall, but Chakotay was waiting at the door as promised.

He smiled and took her by the arm as he picked her out of the crowd. "Good morning, Kathryn, sleep well?"

"Actually, yes, but I'm starving now. I'm sorry I was late, you know me and getting out of bed early, but I learned a lesson about getting to the bathroom quickly in the morning, if you don't get there first, there's a heck of a line. Obviously the same goes for the mess hall. I'll get here earlier tomorrow if I can."

They finally made their way to the head of the serving line, had their trays filled, and found a table. They noticed everyone was eating at warp speed, so they did the same assuming that they didn't have long to finish. One of the men Chakotay had met the evening before stopped by to say hello.

Doing his best with Spanish, Chakotay stood and said, "Kathryn, mi amigo Hector."

Hector shook her hand politely and repeated her name, trying to get the pronunciation right. She assured him the Spanish pronunciation was acceptable. Hector looked at Chakotay and asked with a smile, "Ella es tu esposa?"

"Sí!" Chakotay exclaimed, proud that he had finally managed to converse entirely in Spanish.

Hector patted Chakotay on the back, "¡Vaya, qué guapa! ¡Tienes suerte mi amigo! Hasta luego."

"Gracias," Chakotay replied, exceptionally proud of himself even if he didn't understand what Hector had just said. He looked at Kathryn, who was grinning mischievously. "OK, I tried! Did I just say something stupid?" She just snickered and finished off her eggs. "What, Kathryn, what did I say, what did he say, aren't you going to tell me?" She took a sip of coffee, still grinning. "How am I supposed to learn Spanish if you don't help me?"

"I'm sorry, you did fine, except that you just told him that I'm your wife!"

"I did?"

"You did."

Chakotay thought for a moment and took her hand. "Well, Kathryn, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Hector seems like a nice guy and he showed me pictures of his family, but some of these guys aren't exactly looking at you in a good way." His look of concern melted into a grin and he squeezed her hand. "Besides, if they think you're married to a big handsome guy like me, they'll leave you alone."

Kathryn returned the grin. "A wise precaution, as Tuvok would say, but don't expect any conjugal visits…and before you get too full of your handsome self, he told you what a lucky man you are!"

"Now who's full of herself? C'mon, let's go, they're all filing out so it must be time for work. Hurry up and finish your coffee!"

They walked to the processing building and were immediately separated and sent to different sections of the building for work. Each of their bosses explained their jobs to them and left them with other workers for training. At noon the bell sounded and Chakotay waited outside the mess hall, but Kathryn didn't come. He tried to ask some of the workers why she wasn't there, but he couldn't make himself understood. He finally went in and got his lunch, hoping maybe she had arrived before him and was already eating, but she was nowhere to be found. He ate quickly and rushed back to work. Since his boss spoke English fairly well, he found him and asked about Kathryn, but he said he didn't know or care and told him to get back to work.

At dinner Kathryn was not waiting outside of the mess hall either. Chakotay waited outside and nervously paced as he watched the workers flocking to the mess hall. Finally he caught sight of Kathryn, walking slowly with a limp, and ran to her.

"Kathryn, I didn't see you at lunch, I was so worried. You're limping, what happened, are you OK? Here, let me help you."

She gratefully accepted his help. "I'm fine, these work boots are supposedly the right size, but they don't fit well and they gave me blisters; I don't have any socks. C'mon, I'm starving, let's get some dinner before they run out." They got their trays and sat down. Kathryn eased her boots off under the table and Chakotay gave Kathryn his chicken, but refused to take any of her food in trade.

"What happened at lunch, why weren't you here?"

Kathryn spoke as she shoveled food into her mouth. "I knocked over a box of fasteners into the onion bin and they made me take out all the onions and clean them all up. By time I got done, I had missed lunch. Umph, sorry, didn't mean to talk with my mouth full. I have to stick bags on this thing that fills them with onions, then I take the bag off, check the weight and add or take out onions from the bin to make it right if I have to, put a tag and fastener clamp on it and stick it on the conveyor belt. So, what do they have you doing?"

"Well, I'm one of the guys that's at the end of the conveyor belt. I take the bags off and put them in the right shipping container for what kind of onions they are. Kathryn, those bags weigh 50 pounds, how can you manage?"

She rubbed her lower back. "It's hard, every muscle in my body is screaming." She bent over and rubbed her feet, "But not as much as my poor feet are screaming."

"Well, I have an extra pair of socks I got at the shelter, so as soon as we're finished dinner I'll go back and get them for you and I'll bring you an undershirt too."

"An undershirt? No thanks, hot as it is, I don't need that."

"Yes you do. Your coveralls are so big and loose that, well, when you bend over I can tell you're not wearing anything underneath." A flash of anger shot across Kathryn's face. "I'm sorry, Kathryn, I wasn't trying to look, when you bent over I couldn't help but…"

She cut him off, "Oh, no, Chakotay, I'm not mad at you and thanks for telling me, I didn't realize. Chaco, the guy I work with, kept dropping things and making me pick them up; now I know why, that bastard!" She finished off her milk. "All I have is the bra I was wearing when I left. It was filthy and I had to wash it out last night and it was still too wet to wear this morning. I didn't think anyone would notice."

"Don't worry about it, just make sure you wear the undershirt tomorrow and make him pick up whatever he drops. If you point him out, maybe I can tell him to keep his eyes on his work and off your chest."

"No, I'll be fine, I don't want to make any trouble, I stand out enough already. Let's go sit out behind the building after dinner, Rosita said there are some trees there and a field where the men play soccer. It's got to be cooler than it is in here."

After dinner Chakotay went and got his undershirt and socks for Kathryn. They went to the soccer field and sat in the shade of a tree and discussed their first day of work as Chakotay massaged Kathryn's aching shoulders. She took off her boots and dabbed at her blisters with a tissue. Kathryn trailed off in mid sentence and fell asleep against him, so he held her and watched the men play soccer. Rosita came and sat with them and she and Chakotay tried their best to converse. He was learning Spanish quickly, but so far had only managed to master mostly work related phrases. Rosita looked at Kathryn's feet and cringed. She said something Chakotay didn't understand and left, but quickly returned with a handful of Band Aids and gave them to Chakotay.

"Para sus ampollas. Ampollas," she repeated as she pointed to the blisters.

"Am-po-llas," Chakotay repeated. "Gracias, Rosita, gracias."

"De nada, Chakotay!" Rosita smiled.

As the sun began to set the game broke up and the workers started heading for the dorms. Chakotay gently woke Kathryn and gave her the Band Aids. He walked Kathryn and Rosita back to the gate of the women's compound and Rosita said goodnight and went in.

Kathryn rubbed the small of her back and sighed, "I'm used to working hard, but not like this I'm afraid. I'm sorry I fell asleep, I'm not very good company, am I?"

Chakotay dug his fingers into her neck muscles. "Don't worry about it, you're just tired and, awake or asleep, you're very good company; neither of us is used to working like this. Take a hot shower and put the Band Aids on your feet, get a good night's sleep and I'll see you at breakfast…and don't be late!"

"Aye aye," said Kathryn as she hobbled away, "I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well and thank you."

Kathryn was on time for breakfast the next morning and certainly looked better than she had the evening before.

"Thanks for the socks, they really help," she said as she scarfed down a bowl of oatmeal. "Thanks for the undershirt too, it's way too big, but Rosita said she has sewing supplies and she'd fix it for me tonight so it fits better, at least that's what I think she said. I'm going to go get more oatmeal before they run out, you want more too?"

"No thanks. Kathryn, I thought you hated oatmeal?"

"No, actually I like it, it was just Neelix's 'leola-roatmeal' version that I hated, but I'd give anything to be back on Voyager eating it right about now! Heaven knows there were times when I wanted to beat Neelix to death with a spatula for poisoning half my crew, but what I wouldn't give to see that Talaxian Lucrezia Borgia and his damn leola roots again."

Kathryn returned with another bowl of oatmeal and ate it almost as quickly as the first before it was time to head off for work. The next three days passed uneventfully as Kathryn and Chakotay began to settle in to the routine of the onion farm. As they made friends and their Spanish improved, those few precious leisure hours between dinner and bedtime became more enjoyable.

At dinner the fourth night Kathryn was uncharacteristically quiet and barely touched her food, but swore she was fine. Chakotay knew something was wrong, but he also knew there was no point in pressing Kathryn to talk, she would when she was ready. After dinner they sat behind the building to watch the soccer game and enjoy an exceptionally cool evening. Hector invited them to play cards, but Kathryn politely refused.

"I thought you said you wanted to learn to play canasta, Kathryn? Hector and his friends, they really are nice people, you know. They're trying to learn English, so the game would be in English, they want to practice."

Kathryn rubbed at her right shoulder, "Maybe later, I don't feel like it right now, but you go ahead and play if you want to, Chakotay."

"OK, well, I can see your shoulder's hurting, so let me work on it for you," said Chakotay as he began to massage her right shoulder.

Kathryn tried to lean away from his reach, "No, it's fine."

He gently pulled her back towards him and continued massaging, "Don't be stubborn, Kathryn, let me help you."

"Don't touch me, I said it's fine!" she shouted as she pushed him away. Kathryn stood and started to walk towards the dorms, but stopped in her tracks and remained motionless for a few seconds. Chakotay was torn between wanting to reach out and help her as his instincts told him to do and to let her have her space as experience had taught him. She seldom raised her voice to him, especially without cause. Finally Kathryn turned around and looked at Chakotay, but her face had an expression he had never seen before.

He reached out his hand for her. "Kathryn?" She took it and let him put his arm around her as he led her away from the others and they sat in the soft grass under a tree. He put his arm around her shoulder and gently caressed it. "When you're ready to talk, I'm here."

She looked up at him and smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, I just had a bad day, I didn't mean to snap at you. Forgive me?"

Chakotay chuckled as he patted her hand, "You don't need to ask, Kathryn, I promised I'd always be here for you a long time ago, remember? Do you want to talk about it? What happened?"

She sighed, "It's nothing, really." Kathryn gathered her thoughts and continued, "I've been having problems with Chaco, that guy I have to work with. His looking down my front has escalated to touching, that bastard gropes me all over every chance he gets and he's huge, I can't keep him off me. I'd had enough and finally went to see my supervisor today and all he did was laugh, tell me not to cause trouble or I'd be sent to the fields to work and then he told me to 'get my prissy little white ass back to work.' " She drew in a breath and let it our slowly. "I'm a Starfleet captain, I should be able to deal with this!"

"Kathryn, why didn't you tell me? Which one is Chaco? Point him out and I'll go take care of him. You shouldn't have to deal with this and I'll be damned if I'm going to let any bastard put his hands on you!" Chakotay stood with clenched fists and surveyed the other men.

"Sit back down, Chakotay! …I said sit down!" He finally relented and sat with a thud. "Don't go starting any fights, Chaco has lots of friends and they'd be all over you in a nanosecond. Maybe I can request to be assigned to another job or something? Working in the onion fields can't be that bad, I like gardening."

"Kathryn, listen to me, you think we're slave labor here, working in the fields is ten times worse, Paco told me about it and it's not 'gardening', trust me. Those workers are in another compound, we'd be separated. Let's just get our stuff and get out of here before they shut the gates for the night."

"And go where? Like it or not, at least we have food and a roof over our heads here, we have to stay until we figure something better… or Voyager finds us. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself, I'll manage. I'm fine, really, I was just tired and I got stressed out, that's all." Chakotay met her gaze with a look of disapproval. "Until we have a better alternative, we're staying," she asserted with a tone of authority usually reserved for the bridge.

"Kathryn, you're the strongest person I've ever met and I know you're the captain, but quite frankly I don't give a shit about that right now. You can accuse me of being insubordinate, chauvinistic, overprotective, throw me in the brig, never speak to me again, whatever the hell you want, but keeping you safe is my responsibility and you know as well as I do what could happen to you." He paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear or raise my voice, gods, I've never yelled at you have I? It's just that, well, I… I care about you, Kathryn."

Kathryn stared him down for a few moments before her look softened. "Well, I guess I deserved that, didn't I? We're still friends, but consider yourself on report," she chuckled as she moved over closer to him. "Well, now that we've both vented, let's come up with a plan. Al will be back in three more days and we can get out of here with him, he's been good to his word so far. You remember the drive out here, we must be a good 40 or 50 kilometers from civilization and, from what I've heard, there's all sorts of snakes, dangerous insects, coyotes and wild animals out there, so I don't think trying to make it on the outside for three days is such a good idea, agreed?"

"Agreed," said Chakotay as he tentatively put his arm around her. "Will you please let me rub your shoulder now?" She smiled and nodded her head. Chakotay began massaging her shoulder and stopped as a thought occurred to him. "Kathryn, I've noticed that most of the workers in the kitchen are pregnant women, why don't you tell them you're pregnant and maybe they'll let you transfer to the kitchen? I think you'd be safer there; the only place I've seen pregnant women is in the kitchen, so I bet they don't make them work in the fields or processing."

Kathryn thought for a moment and patted her belly, "Well, I suppose it's worth a try!"

The next day at breakfast Kathryn kept nodding and smiling as the server heaped her tray with sausages. Chakotay looked at her in disbelief. "Don't eat those nasty greasy things, Kathryn, the last time you did you said they made you queasy all morning. Here, you can have my eggs or I'll go get you some oatmeal."

"No thanks, I'm counting on them making me nauseous, morning sickness you know! If they won't buy the pregnancy thing, they'll buy me puking all over the floor and a few more of these greasy sausages should guarantee that, gads they're awful!. Whatever the case, it'll probably get me out of working in processing today," she smiled as she packed down sausages.

At lunch Chakotay waited for Kathryn, but she didn't come. Paco had told him that they sent the sick workers back to their bunks, so he stopped Rosita and asked her to go and check for Kathryn. She did and returned, telling him that Kathryn was not in the dormitory, nobody had seen her since breakfast, and her things were missing; at least that's what he thought she'd said. He began to worry that perhaps they already had too many pregnant workers and had thrown her out; they hadn't considered that possibility. As he slid his tray along the serving line he was deep in thought, concerned at what his oversight might have cost Kathryn and what he could do about it. He was jolted back to reality as the spoonful of macaroni and cheese plopped on his tray splattered all over him.

"Congratulations, Chakotay, you're going to be a father!" Kathryn winked as she waved the spoon in the air.

"Girl or boy?" he asked as he flicked some macaroni off his sleeve at her.

"Twins!" she smirked. "I'm fine, go on, you're holding up the line, I'll talk to you tonight when we get done."

The ruse had gone well, apparently since the work in the kitchen was hard and the hours longer, nobody had ever faked a pregnancy to get there. The kitchen workers had to sleep on cots in the storeroom and share a tiny bathroom, but the sacrifice was worth it. Al was due to arrive the next day and Chakotay was able to see the trucks heading to and from the warehouse from where he worked. As they sat in the cool grass for what they hoped would be their last night at the onion farm, they made their plans for their getaway. Since Kathryn had to get up earlier to start breakfast, they left as soon as they had everything planned out and Chakotay walked Kathryn back to the mess hall. It was deserted except for a couple tables of men playing cards way in the back.

"C'mon in, Chakotay, I'll get you a cup of tea and an orange. There are some advantages to working in here." He sat at a table near the door and Kathryn soon returned with coffee, tea and some oranges. He peeled an orange for her as she inhaled her coffee.

"Take it easy, Kathryn, I thought you pregnant women weren't supposed to drink coffee! Here, have an orange, at least it's good for you."

She laughed and took another sip, "Trust me, coffee is good for me, and you've been around me when I haven't had any, so you know it's good for you too, my friend. I have to get up an hour before you do, so hurry up and finish your tea and let me get some sleep."

Chakotay quickly drained his cup. "OK, I'll see you in the morning and, with any luck, we'll be having lunch someplace else."

Kathryn entwined her fingers with his. "I'll drink to that!"

**CHAPTER SIX**

Rain dropped Tuvok off at the Buster Burger. "OK, Tuvok, I'll pick you up after work. Good luck, you'll do fine, just keep your doo rag on straight! If they give you any flack, just tell them you wear it for religious reasons. Everyplace is scared of the ACLU these days, they won't give you any shit."

"My doo rag?"

"On your head, your cap, it's called a doo rag. You wear one and don't even know what it is?"

"Well, it is not standard issue, however I shall endeavor to keep it on straight. Thank you for transporting me, I shall see you this evening." Tuvok entered Buster Burger and walked up to the counter. "Good morning Miss…Debbie, I am Tuvok, I am here for employment, please inform your supervisor."

The clerk gave him a weird look, shook her head and returned with the manager, a little turbaned man who was as brown as he was short and round. He came out from behind the counter and shook Tuvok's hand enthusiastically. "Oh, hello, friend Tuvok, I am Sandeep Singh, I am so very very glad you here! Buddy at car wash eat here almost every day and he say you are a very very good employee- always neat, always clean, always on time and polite to customer. Oh, you are very very welcome! Come, I will get you uniform and show you job!" He shook Tuvok's hand even more enthusiastically the second time.

Tuvok raised his eyebrows, followed Mr. Sigh into the back and changed into his uniform, essentially a stylized red white and blue indestructible polyester clown suit like the franchise's namesake Buster the Clown wore. He surveyed himself in the mirror with some disgust. "Mr. Singh, must I wear this…costume?"

"Oh yes, yes yes! Here, take off cap and put on hairnet and then Buster Burger hat. No hair in food, always clean, no troubles here with Health Department!"

"Mr. Singh, would not my cap better serve to insure that my hair does not come into contact with the food? The hairnet is porous and would allow any shed hairs to escape. I would also prefer to wear it…for religious reasons."

Mr. Singh bowed apologetically and adjusted his bright saffron colored turban, "Oh, no troubles here, wear cap under hat, but must wear hairnet too."

Tuvok placed the hairnet and hat on his head and took a final look in the mirror. "Mr. Singh, your uniform is less…colorful than mine, might I not have one like yours?"

Mr. Singh smiled, "Oh, no no no, I am manager, only manager wear shirt and tie. You work hard, one day you can buy Buster Burger franchise like me…American dream!" He proudly held out his red tie with Buster the Clown on it for Tuvok's inspection.

Mr. Singh took Tuvok to the kitchen and showed him his work area. It was Tuvok's job to toast the buns, place the condiments on them and hand the tray to the person who put on the burgers, assembled and wrapped the sandwiches and sent them down the chutes to the front. Tuvok was quickly able to memorize the ingredients for each type of sandwich and master the intricacies of the catsup and mustard dispensers. Mr. Singh watched him as he worked, satisfied that he had indeed hired a good worker.

"Oh, Tuvok, I am so happy with great joy! You always put pickles so neat! Not like last guy, he put pickle, eat pickle, put pickle, eat pickle! You only put pickle! Very very good; Tuvok is a sandwich artist!"

Tuvok finished preparing the buns and passed the tray to his coworker. "Thank you, Mr. Singh, however I do not believe any knowledge of art is required, I merely place the pickles and other condiments as you instructed me to. You instructed me not to eat while preparing the food, did you not?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, but nobody ever listen to Mr. Singh! I turn back, they steal food. I no watch, they no work. Too hard to hire good help here, nobody want to work. They all lazy, but not Tuvok, you work hard, do good job. OK, you make more buns and I try to fix broken toaster, see, it no work."

Mr. Singh got his tool kit and tore the bun toaster apart, but he wasn't getting very far with it. Finally Tuvok put down his cleaning rag and inspected Mr. Singh's progress. Singh jiggled some loose wires as he inspected the mechanism, tapped at it with a screwdriver and mumbled to himself in his native language.

"Mr. Singh, this is a relatively simple electro-mechanical device, perhaps I could be of some assistance?"

"Oh, Tuvok, you know how to fix toaster?" Singh asked with enthusiasm.

"I have never repaired a toaster, however it is not unlike the magnetic flux capacitors on a standard Daystrom multiphasic duotronic unit. I believe the problems lies in the trilamination of the spheres with selected metals and their subjection to a magnetic field and current, sustained by the capacitor load, that destabilizes the orderliness of the protons."

"Say what?" queried Singh.

"I said I believe I can repair the toaster." Tuvok made a few adjustments, reconnected some wires and plugged in the toaster. As the red light came on, indicating that it was working properly, Mr. Singh jumped up and down as he hugged Tuvok with one arm and kept his turban on with the other.

"Oh, Tuvok is pickle artist and toaster artist too! You will go very very far in the fast food industry, my friend! Please to take break now, I get you free Gut Buster Burger and clown car of fries! You want jumbo circus shake too?"

"Thank you, Mr. Singh, however I do not require food at this time nor a break. May I continue working? If no buns need to be prepared, perhaps I could clean something?"

Mr. Singh was flabbergasted, however he was delighted to give Tuvok things to do to occupy the rest of his work day. He had never seen anyone who actually seemed to enjoy cleaning. At the end of the day he sent Tuvok home with a bag of food and very high praise for his first day at Buster Burger. As promised, Rain picked him up after her day at the car wash.

"Well, Tuvok, how did your first day at Buster Burger go? You look really 'groovy' in your uniform." She stifled a laugh.

"It was… uneventful."

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"What more is there to say? It is a rudimentary job requiring virtually no skills. The only difficult part seemed to be tolerating the enthusiasm of my supervisor who, unfortunately, rather reminds me of the cook at the…secret agent mess hall."

Rain and Tuvok returned to the trailer and ate their dinner in relative silence. Rain had friends in town, so she did not mind Tuvok's bad company nor his penchant for cleaning. She passed the evenings watching TV and he cleaned or read books from Mad Dog's rather extensive library. She did discover Tuvok had one vice when she found her Game Boy in the van and introduced him to Galactic Space Battles on it. He mastered the game quickly, but could never seem to get past level six.

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Oh, Al, am I ever glad to see you!" Chakotay exclaimed as he shook Al's hand warmly. "Kathryn and I need to get out of here, can you take us somewhere, back to Las Vegas, anywhere?"

"No problem! I was worried maybe I did the wrong thing leaving you here, just looking at your hands I could tell you two weren't not used to this kind of work. Go get Kathryn and get your stuff and I'll go with you to collect your pay and get you out of here. They won't give you any flack if I'm with you."

Chakotay gathered Kathryn and their belongings and Al saw to it they got their pay and loaded them up in his truck. Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief as the truck passed through the front gates. "Oh thank goodness, I'm so glad to be out of that place, I never want to see an onion ever again!"

"I bet!" Al chuckled. "Well, you got a whole trailer full of them behind you. I like onions, I haul a lot of them outta that place and make a pretty good living at it. Kathryn, reach down there and get that blue cake tin on the floor. Hilda, that's my wife, made a whole batch of brownies, help yourself and there's a thermos of coffee too. Hildy makes the best brownies west of the Rockies!"

Kathryn passed out the brownies. "Mmm, she certainly does! Thank you so much, everything I've eaten in the past week tasted like onions, even the coffee. Chakotay, how much money do we have now?"

He took out their money from Las Vegas and what they had made at the onion farm. "Not that much, they took out for room and board and our uniforms and they even charged you $30 for your visit to the infirmary."

"That's ridiculous! All I did was throw up and tell them I was pregnant, I wasn't examined, obviously, and they didn't give me any medication. In fact, they even made me clean up the floor!"

"You're pregnant?" Al interrupted. "Well congratulations, is this your first?"

"Mmph!" Kathryn swallowed her brownie. "No, I'm not really pregnant, I just told them that to get a better job. I can't understand how we worked so hard for a week and they hardly paid us anything."

"Well, that's the way it goes, they exploit the workers at those places and, since most of them are illegals and are making more than they would at home, they don't dare complain," Al explained. "I have some good news, Hildy talked to her sister and, if you want it, there's a job for you at their place. They own a little motel on the Oregon coast and they're looking for a nice couple to help out now that they're getting older. Chakotay, are you handy with tools?"

"Yes, I'm a pretty fair carpenter and Kathryn's good with mechanical things."

Al chuckled, "She is? You sure don't look the type! Well, they'll give you a place to live, it's clean and comfortable and has a kitchenette and everything and it's right on the beach. They'll pay you in cash under the table, it's not full time, it's kind of a work when they need you thing and somewhat seasonal, but you should be able to get by. This load of onions is going up to Tacoma and, when I go up there, I always zip over to the coastal highway and spend the night in Seal Breeze and visit Flora and Woody anyhow, so it's no trouble. You can meet them and talk to them and see what you think. We'll stop for the night in Las Vegas, so I can let you off there tonight if you want, it's your choice."

Kathryn and Chakotay quietly talked it over. Seal Breeze sounded like a nice place and certainly sounded like it was a better opportunity than living in the homeless shelter in Las Vegas. Since the police could be looking for them and they had no reason not to trust Al, they decided to take him up on his offer.

They pulled into the Las Vegas truck stop late that night and Natalie's friendly face greeted them. It wasn't that busy, so she had time to catch up with them and they had a lovely dinner; even though Al and Natalie were new friends, they were as comfortable as old ones. After dinner Al, Chakotay and Kathryn headed back out to the truck. Al unlocked it and climbed in and handed them their bags.

"You all go on and get up to the motel and have yourselves a nice evening!"

Chakotay looked at Kathryn nervously and then looked back to Al. "We don't have very much money, we were hoping we could just sleep in the truck, we can't really afford $49."

Al laughed so hard he shook the truck. "The room's paid for, the trucking company pays for it, just stop at the desk and give them my name and they'll give you the key. Go on, don't worry about me, I like to sleep in the truck, see, there's a bunk right here behind the seats, comfy as can be! Go on now, I'm sure it's been a long time since the two of you have had a nice romantic night to yourselves. I'll see you in the morning, want to get on the road by 6am if we can, so I'll meet you in the restaurant at 5:30. Goodnight kids!" Al slammed the door.

"Well, I guess that settles that! Goodnight, Al, and thank you!" Kathryn shouted as they waved goodnight and headed towards the motel. They got their key and found their room. It was an old fashioned metal key, but Chakotay finally got the door open.

"After you, Kathryn. We should take that key back and donate it to a museum or something, I've never used one like that before! This looks pretty nice, certainly better than anything we've seen since we've been here."

"Oh yes, but, damn, there's only a shower, no bath tub! Don't give me that look, Chakotay, I'm not really complaining. After sleeping on a filthy cot in that storeroom for the last couple of nights, this is heaven!" she exclaimed as she plopped down on one of the beds.

Chakotay jumped down on the other. "You're right, this is heaven, clean sheets and soft pillows and everything! With all those guys snoring and being worried about you, I couldn't sleep at that place either."

Kathryn rolled onto her stomach to face Chakotay and tucked a pillow under her chin. "You were worried about me? I told you, I can take care of myself!"

"I know you can, Kathryn, but that doesn't stop me from worrying. Look, there's a TV, let's see if we can figure out how it works and see if it's everything Tom says it is." Chakotay read the instruction card and Kathryn found the remote and they were soon sitting cross legged on the floor right in front of the TV and channel surfing. "I'm going to go take a shower, you keep watching 'Yan Can Cook' there and, who knows, maybe you'll be able to cook too?"

"Humph! I'll have you know I can cook! Well, a little, sort of," she sheepishly grinned. Chakotay emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later and Kathryn burst out laughing. "Chakotay, my heavens, where did you get those pajamas, is there a naked Ferengi running around somewhere?"

"I got them at the shelter, beggars can't be choosers, you know! I admit, they're not exactly my taste and thankfully not yours either, but your other alternative is the pajamas nature gave me, so take your choice, Kathryn."

She stifled her laugh, "They look fine. In fact, when you see the nightgown the nuns gave me, you'll be looking for a naked fat Hawaiian lady somewhere! I really want to wash my hair, do you have any shampoo? All I have is a bar of soap I stole from the washroom at that grocery store I'm afraid."

"Sorry, I don't have any, but there's soap in the bathroom and I have toothpaste and a toothbrush if you need it."

"Thanks, those I have, I'll make do with the soap. Let me know how the Canton style shrimp and noodles turns out!" A half hour later Kathryn emerged from the bathroom with her head wrapped in a towel, wearing an incredibly huge and ugly floral print Hawaiian muu muu. She pointed her finger and glared at Chakotay before she'd gotten her second foot into the room. "Not a word, Chakotay, not a word!"

He tried, but he couldn't help it and rolled over on his side, laughing hysterically. "I'm sorry, Kathryn, it's just that you look so ridiculous! These pajamas are bad, but that nightgown, it's so much worse! Oh I wish I had a holo imager. What did you do to piss off those sweet old nuns so much that they gave you that thing?"

She pulled the towel off her head and threw it at him and sat back down on the floor, gathering in the voluminous nightgown around her tiny frame. "I don't know, maybe they found out I'm not Catholic? Do you have a comb or a brush? I had a comb, but it's not in my bag, so I must have forgotten to grab it when I packed this morning."

"I've got a little comb. Here, put your back to me and I'll comb your hair out for you. My mother had long hair and, when I was a little boy, I used to love to comb out her hair and then braid it; she always wore it in braids. I'll braid yours too, if you want, there's some rubber bands in the night stand drawer."

"OK, one down the back would be nice, but take it easy, it's hard to comb out without conditioner, what I wouldn't give for a bottle of that! Ouch!"

"Sorry, I'm a little out of practice I guess, I'll try to be more careful. I love your hair, it's such a pretty color and it's so soft and whatever you usually used back on the ship smelled so good. I think your hair was one of the first three things I noticed about you. There, all done!"

Kathryn rose to go inspect her hair in the mirror. "Thank you, it looks nice." She sat back down on the floor. "So, what were the other two things you noticed about me?"

"Well, the color of your eyes, sometimes blue, sometimes gray, depends on your mood."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What was the third thing you noticed?"

"Well…," he grinned, looked down and rubbed his chin. "Well, when you walked away I noticed…that you…you've got a cute backside!"

Kathryn giggled, "That figures, I capture you and your crew and, for all you knew I was going to throw you in the brig or hand you over to the Kazons and you were looking at my ass!"

He met her grin, "Well, at least I only looked and didn't touch. As mad as you were, I'm sure that would have gotten me tossed in the brig."

"Or out an airlock! OK, I forgive you and I'll admit that I might have admired the way you looked in those leather pants. C'mon, it's getting late and I don't think TV is everything Tom said it was and we have to get up early, so let's get some sleep, I set the alarm for 0500." Kathryn hung the towels back up and crawled into bed, reveling in the softness of a real mattress and pillows and the smell of fresh clean sheets. "Goodnight, Chakotay."

"Goodnight, Kathryn, sleep well."

The next morning they met Al in the restaurant, had a fast breakfast and got on the road early. The day was pleasant and they could certainly see why Al enjoyed driving a truck so much. They finally stopped for the night somewhere in California and Al again gave the motel room to Kathryn and Chakotay and slept in the truck.

As they eased onto the coastal highway the next day the scenery was too lovely to ignore and they were even more certain that they would like life in Oregon.

"Seal Breeze 12 miles!" said Al as he downshifted due to the steep grade. "I hope you like it there, Flora and Woody really are nice people and they'll be glad for the help and maybe you two can make a fresh start there?"

"Yes, I hope so," Kathryn said half heartedly as Chakotay could see that she was thinking of Voyager, but couldn't say it. He squeezed her hand to reassure her and she returned the gesture with a more hopeful smile.

Al pulled the truck up to a quaint little motel. "Here we are, you go on in the office and introduce yourselves and I'll park the rig and be right in. Go on now, they're expecting us for dinner, they'll know who you are."

Chakotay hopped out and helped Kathryn down from the truck. "Look, Kathryn, you can see the ocean; isn't the sunset beautiful?" She nodded in agreement and leaned into his shoulder. "C'mon, this looks like a wonderful place, cable TV, heated indoor pool, what more could you want? Don't worry, I haven't given up on Voyager finding us either, but until they do, we have to make the best of it, don't we?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, you're right. Let's go meet Flora and Woody."

Flora and "Woody" Woodward greeted them warmly as they walked through the door and ushered them into their home adjoining the office. Al came in shortly and they sat out on the deck and watched the sun set with a bottle of wine and pleasant conversation. It was obvious that Flora and Woody were the sort that immediately accepted visitors as family; they reminded everyone of their grandparents. After a delicious home cooked meal they talked a little more and Al said goodnight as he had to get on the road early.

Chakotay shook Al's hand and Kathryn kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much, Al, Chakotay and I really appreciate everything you've done for us. Have a safe trip home and please keep in touch."

"Will do, you two take good care of yourselves and I'll see you soon."

The Woodwards explained the sort of help they needed with cleaning, housekeeping, painting, grounds keeping and "handyman" projects. Kathryn and Chakotay were sure they could handle it and enthusiastically accepted their offer. The pay wasn't a lot, but with a free place to live right on the ocean and no questions asked about ID, they considered themselves lucky.

Flora led the way to their new home, "C'mon, let me show you to your apartment. It's small, but it's cozy and there's a kitchenette and it's fully furnished, so you should have everything you need right there. I got a few groceries for you to get you started and Woody will drive you around town and show you where things are tomorrow. There's not much to Seal Breeze, you can walk from one end of town to the other in a half hour. Where's your things, did you leave them in Al's truck?"

Chakotay looked down at the shopping bags he was carrying. "This is all we have, I'm afraid."

Flora opened the door to the apartment and showed them in. "You poor dears, I'll see what I can do to get you more things tomorrow and Woody will take you to the store." Flora showed them where everything was in the tiny apartment, handed them two keys and hugged them goodnight.

"Kathryn, this is nice, look, we have a deck right on the ocean too. The kitchen is tiny, but it looks like it has everything, there's pots and pans and dishes and, look, there's even some food."

"Coffee and a bathtub, I'll be fine! Look, here's some tea, would you like a cup? Don't worry, I can boil water, Chakotay!"

"I never said you couldn't and, yes, I'd love a cup. It's too chilly to sit outside now, we'll have to get some jackets I guess. At least it's not so hot here. Look, there's a TV, let's watch it while we drink our tea and make a shopping list and then you can soak in that bathtub until you look like a prune, a very pretty prune!"

"OK, but put your Ferengi clown suit on and give me all your clothes, the door next to ours said laundry and I'm sure your clothes need a proper washing like mine do." Kathryn changed into her muu muu, gathered their clothes and took them to the laundry room, but quickly returned. "It takes coins to operate the washing machine and I forgot we don't have any soap, but there's a machine that sells laundry soap, I need coins for that too."

Chakotay dug through his bag and found the potato chip bag with their money in it and handed her all the coins. "I hope that's enough, do you need help?"

"I'll manage, keep my tea warm and find something good on that TV, see if you can find that Chinese cooking guy again."

Kathryn returned and they settled in on the sofa to watch TV and have their tea. She kept running back to check the laundry, not aware that 20th century laundry took a lot longer than 24th century laundry. After she got their clothes in the dryer, she nodded off to sleep. Chakotay left her and went to retrieve their laundry and neatly folded it and sat it on the dresser. He took a shower, but she was still curled up on the couch, fast asleep. He finally tried to wake her, but she just moaned and fell back to sleep, obviously exhausted, so he carried her into the bedroom and tucked her into the bed. He thought about joining her, but wasn't sure what she would think about that, so he took a spare pillow and blanket from the closet and went to sleep on the sofa.

Kathryn woke early and rolled over to see that she was alone. She called Chakotay's name softly, but there was no reply. She used the bathroom and walked out into the living room to discover him fast asleep on the sofa. Smiling, Kathryn got another blanket off the bed and put it over him, gently stroking his hair with a fingertip. Making coffee proved to be more difficult, Kathryn had never seen anything like the Mr. Coffee machine in the kitchen. As she fiddled with the coffee maker Chakotay got up and snuck up behind her, totally enjoying listening to her quietly cuss and fuss as she tried to figure it out. He finally tapped her on the shoulder.

"Damn, you scared me, Chakotay! Look what you did, you made me spill the coffee. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know that Starfleet Captain Kathryn Janeway can't operate a simple coffee maker… and a good morning to you too! Here, let me, I think I know how it works, we had old fashioned ones kinda like this at home. Let me in the bathroom for a minute and then go take your shower and get dressed and I'll have breakfast ready when you're done; I left your laundry on the dresser."

"OK, thank you and good morning and I would have figured it out!"

After a breakfast of coffee, eggs and toast Kathryn and Chakotay walked down to the beach, gathered a few seashells and a piece of driftwood and set them neatly on their deck to dry. They went down to the office and helped Flora to water her flowers before she invited them in for coffee and cake.

Kathryn sat her coffee mug down. "Thanks you so much, Flora, this coffee is wonderful and I can't remember the last time I had such delicious cake. It looks like your garden could use a little weeding, I'd be glad to do that for you, I really enjoy gardening."

Oh, thank you, Dear, my knees are so bad now it's hard for me to do it anymore, I'd really appreciate the help. I have some geraniums out back that I'd like to plant too. We can do that after lunch, we'll take you to the store and show you around town first. Woody wants to get some lumber to replace the warped boards on the decks. He'll need your help, Chakotay, to load and unload it, his back's been bothering him again."

"No problem, Ma'am, I'd be glad to do it and I'm a pretty good at carpentry, so I can fix the decks too. This cake really is delicious, I hope you'll show Kathryn how to make it."

"Glad to, it's really a very simple recipe. Let me go find Woody and we'll get going."

The four piled into Woody's old pick up truck and he drove around town and showed Kathryn and Chakotay the sights. Just as they said, Seal Breeze was a very small town, but it had most of the essentials. Woody let Kathryn and Flora off at the grocery store and he and Chakotay went on and bought and loaded lumber and picked them up. They returned home and Chakotay unloaded the lumber while Kathryn helped Flora with her groceries and carried her own down to their apartment. Flora went with her and gave them a large bag of things she thought they could use.

"It's mostly from the lost and found, some of it has been here for years, but take anything you can use and just throw the rest in the dumpster. Here's a key to the linen room, so you can get sheets and towels whenever you need them and put the used ones in the laundry bin so the linen service can pick them up. There's a washer and dryer in there too, you can use them instead of the coin op ones, they're for the guests. There's cleaning supplies and toilet paper in there too, help yourself or just ask Martha, the lady that makes up the rooms when you see her. Oh, and remind me to introduce you to Stella, she works in the office part time. Here's a key to the pool, you can use it at night or early in the morning, when it's closed to the guests."

"Oh, thank you so much, Flora, that's so nice of you! We really appreciate everything you've done for us." Kathryn said as she showed Flora out.

"No problem, we're just glad to have a nice young couple to help us. Can you come down at 2 and help me with the flowers? We'll have to wait until then because I never miss my soaps!"

"Soaps?" Kathryn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Soaps, you know, soap operas, my stories. I never miss Young & Restless! Don't tell me you don't have TV back in Indiana! I love to watch TV, what're your favorite shows, Kathryn?"

"Uh," she thought for a moment, "I don't watch a lot of TV really…but I saw 'Yan Can Cook' the other night and that was good and Chakotay was laughing at David Letterman last night."

"Well, good, maybe we can watch TV together some evening or play cards. I'll see you later, you had better get your groceries put away and get your lunch started."

Kathryn put the groceries away and made some sandwiches. She took a can of vegetable soup out of the cupboard and found a suitable pan to heat it in.

"What's for lunch?" Chakotay shouted as he came through the door. "I'm starved, unloading that lumber was hard work, I think he bought enough to build another motel!"

"Well, I made cheese sandwiches and I found a can of vegetable soup, but that'll be a minute yet, it took me ten minutes to figure out how to open it, it's not like I'd ever opened an antique can before! Why don't you go through that bag of things Flora gave us and see if there's anything useful."

"OK. Here's some beach towels, we can certainly use those and these T shirts look like they'll fit one of us. Oh, Kathryn, how do you feel about getting married?"

"Excuse me?" Kathryn said as she dropped the spoon.

"Well, Woody went on the whole time we were unloading the lumber about how he and Flora think it's disgusting and immoral that people who aren't married live together and then he said how nice it was to find a married couple like us, so I figured it was best not to correct him, don't you?"

"Well, I'd hate to lie to them, but I suppose it would be best to just let them make that assumption as we really can't afford to get tossed out an airlock, can we?"

"No, we can't. OK, how long have we been married then?" asked Chakotay as he continued to sift through the bag.

"Uh, I dunno, we're both about forty, fifteen, twenty years? You want mustard on your sandwich?"

"Please. That's too long, we've only known each other three years. What if they ask questions that go a long ways back? Here's some sandals, um…size 8, what size do you wear?"

"7 ½, they'll do. OK, three years then. You want water or orange juice to drink?"

He held up a flowered dress for her approval. "I think this would fit you. Water is fine. How did we meet?"

"Ew, that's ugly, but it does look like it will fit and I only have this pantsuit and the coveralls, so keep it. I know, we met at work, it'd be the truth!"

"Wow, this jacket is nice and it fit's me! When's our anniversary?"

"June 8th. C'mon, lunch is ready."

Chakotay sat down at the table. "This is good, Kathryn, thanks. Why June 8th?"

"That's when my parents got married- easy for me to remember. You want some crackers?"

"No thanks, this is plenty. Did we have a big wedding?"

"Of course, Chakotay, my mother wouldn't settle for anything less!"

'Does your mother like me, Kathryn?"

"Yes, Mom would love you. Hurry and finish your lunch so we can finish sorting through the rest of that bag of stuff and get it put away. Go get me those ridiculous pajamas of yours too and I'll wash them and my nightgown out in the sink and hang them outside to dry."

After lunch they sorted through the bag and found several more items that would do and happily put their new things away. Chakotay cleaned up the dishes from lunch and left to help Woody with the deck while Kathryn washed out their night clothes and laid them on the deck railing to dry. She changed into her coveralls and went to help Flora with the gardening.

"Woody, Chakotay, come quick, Kathryn fell and I think she's hurt herself!" Flora shouted, out of breath from running back to the tool shed. "She's out front by the roses." They ran to the front garden to see Kathryn sprawled out amongst the roses.

Chakotay rushed to her side, "Kathryn, are you alright? Lie still and let me take a look, what hurts?"

"My ankle!" she moaned as she reached for her right ankle and tried to sit up, but couldn't. "I tripped over a rock and fell, just get me some ice, I'll be fine."

Chakotay pushed up her pants leg and unlaced her work boot, eased it off and rolled down her sock. Kathryn groaned in agony as he did. "Sorry, oh Kathryn, this looks pretty bad, I think it's broken."

"Oh my!" gasped Flora. "Woody, hurry, go get my car and I'll get some ice, we'll be able to get her to the hospital faster in the car than if we call an ambulance. "Don't worry, Kathryn, you'll be OK!"

Chakotay splinted her leg with a board and they loaded her into the backseat of the car and rushed off to the hospital. Kathryn was taken to the ER immediately and Flora, Woody and Chakotay were left to nervously pace in the waiting room.

Flora made Chakotay sit and squeezed his hand, "Don't worry, this is a good hospital, they'll take good care of her. You really do love her, don't you?"

"More than she knows, Ma'am, I don't know what I'd do without Kathryn."

"Hush now, she'll be fine, she's a strong woman. I'll go get us some coffee, try to relax. They brought me here when I broke my hip and, as you can see, I'm just fine now."

After about 30 minutes a doctor came out to speak to them and told them that her ankle was indeed broken, but it wasn't bad, should heal well, and they could cast it and she could go home in an hour or two, but would be on crutches for six to eight weeks and would have to take it easy. The doctor told Chakotay he'd send a nurse out to get some information and then he could see her for a few minutes.

A nurse with a clipboard came out and sat next to Chakotay. "She's OK, Mr. Janeway, don't worry, Doctor Kelley is very good, he's an orthopedic specialist."

"Thank you, but my name's not Janeway, it's Chakotay. Kathryn and I, we don't have the same last name."

"No problem, Mr. Chakotay, I need a little information please, what's her full name?"

"Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway, no Kathryn with a K and an RYN, Ma'am."

"Date and place of birth?"

"May 20th, 23...er…um….I guess it would be about 1955? She was born in Bloomington, Indiana."

"Social Security Number?"

"Oh, gosh, ummm….I don't know that. Couldn't we do this later, Ma'am?"

Flora moved over to the other side of the nurse. "I can probably help you, she works for us and we want to take care of it, our insurance will cover it. Can he please go see her before he explodes? He probably couldn't tell you his own birth date right about now!"

"Sure!" the nurse chuckled. "You're in worse shape than most of the expectant fathers. She's in the second bed on the right, go on back, Dr. Kelley should be with her."

"Thank you, Nurse." Chakotay rushed back and found Kathryn as the doctor was casting her ankle. She looked so small and frail in the bed, not like the woman he was used to. He sat at her side and held her hand. She moaned and tried to open her eyes, but they were just too heavy.

The doctor smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, she's fine, I gave her some pain medication and had to sedate her to set her ankle. Don't worry about the blood, it's just superficial scratches, she didn't hit her head; the nurse will get her cleaned up. She should be ready to go home in an hour or two, as soon as the sedative wears off. The nurse will give you medication and instructions and she'll need to come back and have her ankle checked in two weeks. Go ahead and talk to her, but she might not know who you are. She's pretty disoriented, she's been going on about being the captain of a space ship, planets, alien invasions, an osteoregenerator and all sorts of crazy things! An osteoregenerator, can you imagine that!" Dr. Kelley shook his head as he laughed and went back to his work.

Chakotay quietly chuckled and squeezed Kathryn's hand. "She reads a little too much science fiction, I'm afraid. Thank you, Doctor. She's the worst patient in the world, but I'll see to it that she follows your orders to the letter."

By dinnertime they had Kathryn home and comfortably propped up in bed with her ankle raised up on a stack of pillows as directed. She dozed off and woke up a little after 7pm.

"Well, hello there!" Chakotay greeted as he gently sat down beside her. "Flora brought us dinner, do you feel like you could eat something or at least have some tea or water and a couple crackers or maybe some toast?"

"Oh!" Kathryn moaned as she tried to sit up. "What a mess I've made of things, I tripped over a stupid rock and fell into the roses, didn't I?"

"Yes, that's what Flora said. The doctor said you'd be fine, but you need to take it easy, your ankle has to heal naturally, so it'll take a while. Let me bring you some dinner, it's delicious and I bet you'll feel like eating a little when you smell it."

"Oh, no, I can go to the table, just help me up and get me those damn crutches. Six to eight weeks for an ankle to heal, who ever heard of such a thing?"

"Oh no you don't! The doctor said you have to stay in bed the next couple of days. I'm sorry, Kathryn, but you'll just have to deal with 20th century medicine…and you'll have to deal with me," he smiled.

"OK, fine, I surrender, but I need to use the bathroom please."

Chakotay helped Kathryn to the bathroom and got her settled back in bed. She would obviously need some practice to get good with the crutches. She did eat a little and drifted back to sleep, still under the effects of the sedatives. Chakotay fashioned a bed beside Kathryn's from the armchair and two dinette chairs and settled in for the night, keeping watch over Kathryn.

The next morning he awoke first and quietly got dressed and slipped into the kitchen to make coffee and toast. "Is that coffee I smell?" drifted in from the bedroom.

"Good morning, Kathryn! Yes, it's coffee and I have toast too, what else would you like? How do you feel?"

"Better, thank you, but it hurts. I'm sure I'll feel better after some coffee though." Chakotay got Kathryn propped up in bed, opened the drapes and handed her a mug of coffee and a slice of toast. She inhaled the aroma of the coffee and took a sip. "Not bad! Chakotay, did you sleep on those chairs? You could have slept in the bed, you know, I don't mind sharing. You sleep like that and your back will hurt worse than my ankle."

"Well, maybe in a few days. I'm worried I might turn over and jostle you. The sofa is perfectly comfortable, but I know you and I was worried you might try to get up by yourself in the middle of the night so I slept on the chairs. Flora said she'd be by in awhile to get you washed and dressed and she'll stay with you while I go work, unless you'd rather I stay, they said it would be OK to take a few days off."

"Thanks, but go on, I'll be fine! Do you think maybe you could get me something to read so I don't go stir crazy? Remember, Woody pointed out where the library is and it's just down the street."

"Sure, it won't take long, I'm sure they'll let me go. Is that all you're going to eat?"

"It's fine, I'm just a little queasy, I think it must be the medication they gave me and this thing really hurts. Look at that cast, it's huge, how will I manage to drag it around? I'll have to save it as a souvenir, I bet the EMH has never seen a plaster cast!"

"Doubtful. By the way, you asked the doctor at the hospital about an osteoregenerator, he got quite a laugh out of that, said you were talking about starships too. Don't worry, he just figured it was the drugs talking."

"Oh my! I don't remember any of that. I guess I'm lucky he didn't send me to the psych ward. I remember tripping and falling while I was carrying a flat of geraniums and I remember you loading me in the car and that's about all."

"Well, I'm just glad you're OK, Kathryn! You have pain medication, but it says you're supposed to take it on a full stomach, so please try to eat a little more and then you can take some. How about I fix us some oatmeal? That's bland and should settle your stomach. Oh, gosh, I probably shouldn't have given you coffee, should I."

"Touch my coffee and I'll beat you to death with my crutches!"

"Yes, Ma'am! That's probably Flora at the door, you stay there and I'll let her in.

Flora got Kathryn washed and dressed and settled back into bed. Kathryn ate more breakfast, took her medication and dozed off for the rest of the morning. She felt better after lunch and she and Flora got to know one another better and enjoyed the afternoon. Woody showed Chakotay how to maintain the pool and they had to drive into Newport to get some parts for the pool filter, so they missed lunch. It started to rain at mid afternoon, so the deck repairs were put on hold. Chakotay looked in on Kathryn, but she was asleep, so he left her with Flora and walked into town with a borrowed umbrella.

He returned about 4pm and poked his head in the bedroom.

"Hi there!" Kathryn greeted.

"Hello yourself, you certainly look better than you did this morning."

"Thank you, I feel better, Flora's been great company! Thank you so much, Flora."

"No problem, Dearie, you just take it easy and let that handsome husband of yours wait on you hand and foot. Speaking of handsome husbands, I'd better get back to mine." Flora kissed Kathryn on the cheek and Chakotay saw her to the door, thanked her and returned to the bedroom.

"How are you feeling, Kathryn? Does it hurt much?"

"It's not too bad now, the medicine really helps. Look, Flora taught me how to knit, I made us a potholder and I've got a second one going."

"Wow, that's nice, we need some and it looks pretty good for your first project. Here, you were sleeping when I got back from work, so I went down the street and got you some things. The library wouldn't give me a library card because I didn't have any ID, but they had used books for ten cents each, so I got you some."

"Oh, thank you, Chakotay, these all look good, I do so miss reading in the evenings! What's in the other bag?"

"The lady at the library told me about a used clothing store, so I got you some clothes too, I hope they fit, I had to guess at the sizes, but the sales lady helped me."

"That's wonderful, I can't get pants on over this huge cast, so I'm reduced to my ugly nightgown and this even uglier dress." Kathryn pulled items from the bag. "A robe, oh thank you, I'm sure this will fit and these tops and skirts look good too, but this red dress is too short, don't expect me to wear it. Oh my, this nightgown is sexy, just what did you have in mind?" She said as flashed him a little grin. "Chakotay, did you get yourself anything? Let me see."

Chakotay bowed his head, "No, I'll get myself some clothes after I get paid, we didn't have enough money left, I had to save a little for groceries. I saw your nightgowns hanging in your bathroom back on the ship, so I know you like ones like that. I didn't mean anything by it, Kathryn, you can wear the robe over it, it was the only pretty one they had in a small size. Here, I went to that general store too and got you some underwear, I know you don't have much, and I got a you bottle of bubble bath and a hairbrush and tube of hair conditioner."

Kathryn pulled the things out of the bag and laughed hysterically as she held up a bra. "Oh, Chakotay, how big do you think my boobs are? This thing's huge!" She smoothed the bodice of her dress tight to illustrate her point. "I hate to tell you, but if you think that's what's under here, you're going to have to stop by sickbay for a little Retinax 5 when we get back."

He grinned and played with his earlobe. "Well, I've never bought a bra before, Kathryn, and I didn't know what size you wear. I described you to the lady and she picked it out. Don't worry, she said I could exchange it if it didn't fit…and, by the way, I like you just the way you are."

Kathryn laughed and patted his hand, "Well, that must have been some description, so sorry I don't live up to it. You did better on the underpants, they'll fit and thank you for the hairbrush, hair conditioner and bubble bath, they're perfect. You really shouldn't have spent so much money on me."

"You needed things, Kathryn, it's OK. You always looked so pretty before and I want you to be able to do that here. I'll put this away for you and go start dinner, what would you like?"

"I don't know, I'm really hungry though. How about you help me to the sofa and I can prop my ankle up and lie there, it'd be the same thing as the bed. I sat out there for an hour this afternoon while Flora watched her TV show and I was fine. I get lonely in here and it's really too dark to read in here at night. The sheets need to be changed anyhow, I spilled some soup at lunch and there's cracker crumbs all over the bed."

"OK, the doctor didn't specifically say you had to stay in bed and, you're right, it's pretty dark in here at night. I'll see what I can do about getting you a reading lamp or at least a brighter light bulb for the overhead light. Do you need help out of bed?"

"Nope, just hand me my crutches, they showed me how to use them at the hospital. I'm pretty slow, but I get there." Kathryn carefully made her way to the sofa and got herself situated and her ankle propped up. "Thanks, can you throw that blanket over me?"

Chakotay got her tucked in and went through the kitchen cupboards. "What would you like, how about a salad- no onions! and we could have soup or chili or macaroni and cheese or how about some spaghetti?"

"Macaroni and cheese sounds good!"

"If you promise not to throw it at me this time, Kathryn?" He said with a grin.

She laughed, "Yeah, that was only the pregnancy talking, those twins were hell! Can you imagine me pregnant with twins? I'd be bigger than a shuttlecraft!"

"But you'd still be beautiful, Kathryn! How about some green beans with the macaroni or we have carrots?"

"Green beans, you hate carrots. Do we have any wine?"

"Sorry, you're not allowed any alcohol with your medication and we don't have any anyhow, maybe we can get a bottle next payday and celebrate? We're a little short on money right now."

"We're short on money because you bought me all that stuff. You really shouldn't have done that, Chakotay, especially now that I can't work for awhile. It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's just that we need to keep priorities straight."

"Well, you are my priority, Kathryn, and you needed things. We have enough food to last until I get paid and I saved twenty dollars just in case. If you want to be in charge of the money, that's fine with me, it's in the drawer…"

"Chakotay!" Kathryn interrupted, "Do you realize we're arguing over money? If we keep this up, we won't have any trouble convincing anyone that we're supposed to be married, heaven help us if we really were! I'm sorry, I'm just feeling guilty that I can't work and need so much looking after right now and sometimes I forget that I'm not the captain of this ship. I'm not upset about the money, I'm just mad at myself that I tripped and fell and you know how bad I am at being helpless. I really am sorry, I was out of line, I apologize." Kathryn reached out her hand, "Forgive me?"

"I will, but on one condition?"

"Uh oh, what's that, Chakotay?"

"Kiss and make up?"

"I don't know about that, I've never been kissed by a man wearing an apron with daisies on it!" she giggled.

"First time for everything, Kathryn! I've never kissed a woman with three or four kilos of plaster stuck to her leg."

They smiled at one another and their lips met in a gentle whisper of a first kiss.

Kathryn continued to heal and got pretty good at thundering around on her crutches, much to everyone's chagrin. Flora took her back for her check up in two weeks and the doctor was pleased with the way she was healing, but cautioned her to continue to stay off her feet as much as possible. Considering how much her ankle hurt when she was upright for too long, she had no problem with that advice.

The doctor did agree that she could work part time as long as she could keep her foot propped up, so Flora trained her to work at the motel's front desk, checking the guests in and out, answering the phone and keeping the books. Kathryn was glad for something to do as lying around all day did not suit her.

After her third day working in the office she returned home to find Chakotay busy making a salad.

"Hi, Kathryn, how was work?"

"OK," she sighed as she laid on the sofa and propped her foot up.

"What would you like for dinner?"

"I don't care, I'm not very hungry."

"Are you feeling OK? Did you overdo it today?"

"No, I'm fine," she said as she picked up her knitting, did a row and put it back down.

Chakotay fixed a nice casserole and a piece of chicken for Kathryn and they sat down to dinner, but she hardly ate anything. After dinner she settled on the sofa and picked up a book, but he could tell she was just pretending to be reading.

"What's wrong, Kathryn, did I do something to upset you? You just picked at your food and you usually like chicken. Would you like me to make you some coffee?"

"No thanks, I'm fine, I'm not mad at you, just a little down I guess."

Chakotay sat next to her and put his arm around her. "Want to talk about it? You refusing coffee is usually grounds for a red alert or carting you off to sickbay at the very least."

"No, it's nothing, I'm just tired I guess."

"Well, alright, as long as you're OK. Woody asked me to check on the pool filter, it's been acting up, will you be OK alone for a few minutes?"

"Sure, go ahead, I'll be fine."

Chakotay gave her shoulder another squeeze and left. Kathryn picked up her book and put it back down and was looking for the TV remote when the phone rang. It was Flora and she asked Kathryn where she had left the receipt from the linen service pick up. Kathryn told her she was sure she left it in the top desk drawer, but Flora said it wasn't there and she couldn't find it anywhere, could she come and help look for it. Kathryn said she'd be right down and grabbed her crutches and thumped her way to the office. She entered and Flora wasn't at the desk, so she called out.

"I'm in here, Dear," Flora replied from the living room. "C'mon in." Kathryn made her way to the living room and nearly fell off her crutches.

"SURPRISE!"

Chakotay hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, "Happy birthday, Kathryn!"

"You! I thought you forgot my birthday!" Kathryn shook her finger at him.

"Me forget your birthday? Not a chance! I'm sorry I let you mope around all evening, but it might have ruined the surprise. Come sit and get your leg propped up and see who's here."

"I can't believe this, I really did think you'd forgotten, I'll give you credit, you got me good. Al, what are you doing here?"

Al gave her a hug. "I wouldn't miss your birthday either, it's good to see you two again! This is my wife Hilda, she came along on this run."

Kathryn shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, Hilda, Al's told us so much about you."

Flora brought out a cake, Woody popped the cork on the champagne and Kathryn was piled high with cards, flowers and gifts. Her gloomy mood forgotten, she had a wonderful evening in the company of her new friends. Since Al and Hilda had to get on the road early the next morning, the party broke up early. Chakotay carried Kathryn's gifts back to the apartment and came back for her. She put on her new coat Woody and Flora had given her and hugged and thanked them as they helped her out.

"Well, Chakotay, I can't remember when I've had such a nice birthday! You guys really outdid yourselves. Did you know Al and Hilda would be here?"

"Yup, we planned this a couple weeks ago. C'mon, let's get you back home and, as much champagne as you had, I'm going to carry you!" Before she could protest, Chakotay swept Kathryn off her crutches and into his arms and carried her back to their door. "I'd better set you down, I don't think I can get you and that cast through the door, I might bump it."

"I'm not drunk, Chakotay, I'm just really happy!" Kathryn swayed her way to the sofa and plopped down. "Oh my, maybe I am a little bit drunk!" she giggled as she propped her foot up on the coffee table. "Thank you so much, it really was a wonderful birthday, I don't know how I could have ever thought that you forgot, I'm sorry! Thank you so much for this book on seashells, can you please go get my collection so that I can identify them? They're in an oatmeal box on the top shelf in the closet."

"OK. They gave us the rest of the champagne, there's a little left, want to finish it off?"

She shook her finger at him, "Are you trying to get me drunk…so you can take advantage of me?"

He grabbed her finger and kissed it. "No, Kathryn, you're already drunk and I would never take advantage of you. Let me get your shell collection, I'll be right back."

"I am not drunk!" she shouted at him as he left. He returned and handed her the box with her shell collection. "Thank you. Chakotay, let's go ahead and finish off that champagne, it won't be any good if it goes flat. What's that you've got behind your back in your other hand?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that, what is it?"

"It'll cost you a kiss to find out."

"I thought you said you wouldn't try to take advantage of me!" she huffed as she put her hands on her hips.

"Wouldn't be taking advantage if you said yes, Kathryn." He took the package from behind his back and waved it at her, just out of her reach, but she wouldn't give in. "You win, here, happy birthday! I'll get the champagne and put your flowers in some water."

Kathryn tore off the paper and opened the box. Chakotay returned, handed her a glass of champagne, put the flowers on the end table and sat down beside her. She removed her gift from the box and smiled as a tear slid down her cheek. "Oh Chakotay, you carved this? It looks just like my spirit guide does, it's beautiful, thank you so much!" She clutched the wooden lizard to her chest and hugged him. "What kind of wood is this?"

"You're welcome, Kathryn, I'm glad you like it. It's driftwood, remember that piece we brought back the first time we walked on the beach? Well, there it is. Woody let me borrow his carving tools, I worked on it in the shop here and there on rainy afternoons."

Kathryn reached into her shirt and pulled out her necklace. "Now I have two lizards, this one and the one you made for me last Christmas!"

He held the pendant, "You mean you've had this the whole time we've been here?"

"Of course, I almost never take it off, I even wear it under my uniform- don't tell!" she giggled.

"I wouldn't dream of it, who am I to put the captain on report for wearing non-regulation lizards? I'll run a bath for you and you can finish your champagne in a bubble bath, OK?"

"That would be heavenly, thanks so much, this certainly has been a wonderful birthday!"

Kathryn finished her bubble bath, careful to keep her cast propped on the side of the tub, and settled into bed with a book and her new lizard watching over her on the night table. Chakotay cleaned up, took his shower and put his pillow and blanket on the couch before going in to say goodnight to Kathryn.

"Do you need anything else before I go to bed, Kathryn?"

"Yes, would you come here and sit by me? I want to talk to you." Chakotay sat next to Kathryn, she put her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her. "Chakotay, I really do want to thank you, not just for today, but for the past couple of weeks. I know I've been a pain in the ass sometimes and my head is harder than neutronium, but somehow you're always able to cope with me. I don't know how you do it!"

"It's easy, Kathryn, but I don't know how you put up with me sometimes, you don't have the market cornered on stubbornness you know."

"I know, but it's easy for me because…because I love you, Chakotay."

He kissed her softly on the lips, "I love you too, my sweet Kathryn, I've loved you for a long time, but I was afraid if I said it, you'd…"

"Run away?" she interrupted. Chakotay smiled and nodded his head. "Well, you're probably right, up until a few days ago I would have and I would have thrown protocols or some other bullshit in your face, but I've had a lot of time to think lately and to finally put the past to rest; letting go isn't easy for me. I know we've never said it before in so many words, but I've known that I loved you and you loved me for a long time and it really was irrelevant that neither of us put words to it, we didn't need to speak them to know. Life went on and we were able to command our ship and I'm finally starting to realize that all my fears were unjustified. Shit, half the ship thought we were doing it anyhow… yes, I knew about that, I'm not as clueless as the crew thinks!" she chuckled. "I know we may be stuck here, but I also haven't given up hope that Voyager is still up there looking for us and will find us. We've been in this situation before and I remember what you said back on New Earth, and you were right. Well, I just wanted you to know that too."

He linked fingers with her. "Thank you, I was afraid of exactly what you just said, that if I said or did anything you'd push me away or think that I was just trying to get you into bed. Oops," he grinned, "Well we are in bed, but don't worry, you know that you can trust me and nothing will ever happen unless you want it to, Kathryn. Am I right that you want to take things slowly?"

"Do you think you could live with that, Chakotay?"

"Yes, Kathryn, some things are worth waiting for. When you're ready, I'll be here." He kissed her softly on the cheek. "I know letting go isn't easy for you. Well, you have to be at work early tomorrow, so I'd better let you get some sleep, do you need anything else?"

She refused to let go of his hand and looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes, for you to go get your pillow and sleep here, I think you've been sleeping on the sofa long enough."

Chakotay went and got his pillow and crawled into bed next to Kathryn. She snuggled up next to him and he put her arm around her. "Goodnight, Chakotay, I love you."

"Goodnight, I love you too, my sweet Kathryn."

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"Torres to Captain Kim."

Harry sat back from his work spread out on the briefing room table and tapped his com badge, "Kim, here. B'Elanna, don't call me captain, Captain Janeway is still the captain!"

"Sorry, Starfleet! I have some good news, we finally got some of the sensors Jeri rigged, so you can start scanning, but you've only got one forward array working and I can't guarantee for how long, so make it count."

"Thanks B'E, that's great news, good work! Kim out." Harry quickly made his way to his console on the bridge and announced, "OK, B'Elanna says she's got one sensor working, so I'm going to scan for Tuvok's com badge, let's hope it holds out long enough to find him! It may have been damaged or the power cell isn't strong enough for him to contact us, but the transponder should still be working and we can find that."

Tom turned to face Harry, "That's great, Harry, but we don't have transporters, so what are you going to do if you find him?"

"Well, I haven't thought of that yet, but at least we can, hopefully, contact him and let him know we're working on getting them back and, maybe he's with the captain and Chakotay and we'll know they're alright."

Tom moved to Tuvok's station and began working. "Harry, I think I can fine tune those sensors to eliminate interference from 20th century frequencies. Can we launch a shuttlecraft to pick him up? We'd risk detection, but I could get in and out pretty fast, before they had time to react."

"Well, that would be nice, but they're offline too, the virus affected them the same as the ship. Last I heard we couldn't even get the shuttle bay doors open. I don't think Engineering has even been working on them, the sensors and transporters have been the priority."

Tom finished his adjustments and returned to the helm to adjust the ship's position, "OK try it now, Harry. Do you mind if I go down to the hanger deck and check the shuttles out and see what their status is? If they're not too bad that may be a better option than the transporters, depending on what would take longer to get operational.?"

"Yeah, Tom, go ahead and report back to me as soon as you can with a status report. Grab Vorik if you need him and B'Elanna can spare him."

"Aye aye, Ensign Kim…and good luck, Harry!" Tom paused as he stood in front of the captain's chair. Janeway's tennis ball still sat in it, nobody had been in her chair or dared to move it since she went missing. He patted it for luck and left for the shuttle bay.

"Kim to Engineering."

"Torres here."

"B'Elanna, can you boost the power to the sensors, I want to scan for Tuvok's com badge signal, that should be the easiest thing to find."

"Sorry Harry, I can't give you any more than you've got right now, but we're working on it."

"Acknowledged. I sent Tom down to check the status of the shuttles, do you think it's more likely we could get them or the transporters operational first?"

"Transporters I'd think, we've been working on that, I haven't even messed with the shuttles, there's only one of me you know and it's taken me weeks just to get you one friggin' sensor working. Sorry, Harry. The bay doors won't open anyhow and all weapons systems are down, so we couldn't even blast one out."

"Understood, well we'll keep scanning up here and hope for the best. Don't worry about it B'Elanna, I know you're doing your best down there."

"No problem, Starfleet, Torres out."

Kim ordered round the clock scanning for Tuvok's com badge from his last known position and three days passed, with no luck. Tom had been working on the shuttles, but found that the virus Voyager accidentally downloaded had infected them too and had gone unchecked. Every time he tried to reinitialize a system, the virus replicated anew and crashed the system. He was trying to devise a scheme whereby a shuttle could be totally disconnected from its onboard computers and operated manually, but that would take a significant amount of work, if it were even possible. As he fiddled with a tricorder his com badge chirped. "Paris here."

"Tom, I think we may have something, report to the bridge ASAP! Kim out."

"On my way." Tom made his way up to the bridge and stumbled as he exited the turbolift. "Damn, I keep forgetting that those things don't always hit the decks right anymore, but at least they work now! What have you got Harry?"

"Look at this, Tom, the signal is weak, but I think that's it. Can you adjust our position to give the sensors the best possible focus?"

"Yes, Sir!" Tom took his post at the helm and aimed Voyager's one working sensor array directly at the coordinates Kim had located. "Try it now, Harry."

Harry nervously opened a channel. "Voyager to Tuvok, Voyager to Tuvok, come in please." The entire bridge crew stood and waited. Harry tried again and was met with silence. "Ayala, is there any way to boost the signal?"

"Sorry, Sir, you're at maximum now. I don't know if these readings are right or not, but it looks to me like that com badge is several meters underground."

Harry checked the readings and nodded his head. "Well, it does to me too, but the sensors aren't working that well, maybe he's underground in the transit system, a subterranean building or a cave or something? Let's keep trying and see if the com badge signature changes position. Ayala, keep a watch on that position and let me know the minute it changes. Our signal is so weak it might not be able to reach him that far underground."

Tom took Harry aside, "Harry, Buddy, you've been up here for what, 18, 20 hours now? Why don't you go get some rest. Ayala will call you if there's any change and we'll keep trying."

"Thanks, Tom, but I want to stay up here. I'll go in the briefing room and try to grab a nap."

"Harry, if you won't go to your quarters, at least go take a nap on the couch in the ready room, I'll come get you if there's any change, I swear!"

"No way, Tom, that's the captain's! I mean, I know I'm the captain now, but that's Captain Janeway's personal space and I wouldn't feel right using it, I only go in there to water her plants because I know she'd be pissed if they're dead when she gets back. Oh, gosh, does she have plants in her quarters too? I forgot to water them, they're probably…"

"Relax, Harry, Kes has been taking care of them and that ugly old cactus Chakotay has and she moved Tuvok's orchids to the airponics bay so she could take care of them. You're going to get them back!"

"I hope you're right, Tom, I hope to hell you're right. Any progress with the shuttles?"

"Not really, they're a mess and I'll keep trying, but even if I can figure out a way to get one operational, the work will take weeks, maybe months. I think your decision to prioritize the transporters and sensors was the right one. Harry, if it means anything, I think Captain Janeway would be doing the same things you're doing now if it were us down there instead. We will get them back!"

Several more days passed and the signature from Tuvok's com badge had not changed position. Kim called the senior staff to the briefing room and stood to address them. "Well, the com badge signal has not changed position and I'm sure that's what we're locked on to, 20th century earth didn't have anything that would even come close. If it's really underground or not, we can't be sure, but it looks that way. B'Elanna, how are you coming with the transporter?"

"We've made some progress, we got it working again, but the pattern buffers won't hold a pattern, so the test modules I've transported down to an unoccupied area of the polar ice cap came back a pile of discombobulated goo. I'm working on trying to get them to hold it long enough so it won't degrade, but it isn't safe to use it on anyone. When I do get them operational, it will be one person at a time and limited range, so we'll have to move in closer. We're also working trying to create some sort of independent auxiliary system to act as a pattern buffer."

Ayala spoke up, "I've made some progress with the shields, they're still totally useless against weapons fire, but I should have them configured to reflect back any sort of radar scanning devices they might use to detect us, a cloaking device of sorts, so we should be able to move closer and not risk radar detection. From what I know of Earth history, as big as we are, I doubt they would try to attack us anyhow and I think, at current orbit, we're well out of the range of any of their primitive weapons."

"Excellent work, Mike!" Kim commended. "Kes, what is the situation in sick bay?"

"We have no patients at present and it is shut down to conserve power, much to the Doctor's chagrin, but of course he's fully operational and available for emergencies. At present he activates himself for about an hour a day to monitor the crew and treat anyone who needs routine care. The sickbay systems are, for the most part, separate from the rest of the ship and, as long as they have power, they're functioning normally."

"Good, thank you, Kes. Tom, what is the status at the helm?"

"We have thrusters, not at full power, but I should be able to get the ship anywhere you want it as long as you don't want it there fast. When we're ready to go in, I recommend we do it at night and shut down all internal lights and our running lights to make ourselves less visible to any of their telescopes."

"Good idea, Tom. What about the shuttles?"

"I'm still working on it, but quite honestly it would probably be faster to build one from scratch, which is essentially what I'm doing. I still have no idea how to get the bay doors open short of cutting them open with plasma torches, which would take a long time and then we're faced with the massive power drain that a force field large enough to plug up that hole would create."

"That would be a problem!" B'Elanna interrupted, "With the warp drive offline, we'd really have to scrape for that much power, unless we tried to deploy some sort of solar array to generate power, but they might be able to detect one big enough to be useful. I hate to say this, but taking some non-essential systems offline and doing some energy rationing wouldn't be a bad idea at this point."

Neelix spoke up, "What did you have in mind, Lieutenant? Morale took a dive on Captain Janeway's birthday, but it's still pretty good. If the quality of life and services available goes down, you know it will suffer."

Kim turned to face Neelix, "How are we on food, Mr. Neelix? Not using the replicators for food and other non-essentials would help. We don't know how long we'll be here."

"Well, we're not too bad off actually, and of course, Earth has plenty of food if we have some way to get it up here! A small solar array from the survival shelter kits would serve to power the galley and shouldn't be hard to rig up… mmm… I could probably do that myself. Of course, when we're in low geo-synchronous orbit, it would only produce power in the daytime."

"Good consideration, Mr. Neelix," said Harry as he made notes on his PADD. "Well, for the time being let's shut down non-essential sections of the ship and limit replicator use to only food and essential items. Neelix, please see to that. Tom, forget the shuttle for now and draw up plans for a solar power generator, if it becomes necessary. B'Elanna, make the transporter your top priority and let me know if you need any personnel reassigned to you. Any questions? Thank you, dismissed." When the briefing room doors hissed shut, Harry laid his head down on his arms on the table. He was startled by a touch on his shoulder. "B'Elanna?"

"Sorry, Harry, didn't mean to sneak up on you. I know this is the first time you've been in command of the ship, and if it means anything, I, we think you're doing a damn good job. The captain would be proud of you."

"Thanks, B'Elanna."

"Don't mention it, Starfleet!"

Several days later Tom nervously stood on the transporter pad. "Are you sure this thing's is working right, B'Elanna?"

"Yes Tom!" she huffed, "I hate your guts, but I don't want to spread them all over space, I'd rather do that myself with a kut'luch. I tested it all day and it worked fine, even on the specimens the doctor sent down."

Harry moved beside B'Elanna and nervously gave the order to energize. Endless seconds passed before the silence was broken, "Paris to Voyager."

"Kim, here, you made it OK?"

"Yes, Harry and I've got strong subterranean readings, let me get going and I'll report back as soon as I have something. Paris out."

Kim returned to the bridge and worked at his station, monitoring to make sure Earth was not detecting Voyager in her lower orbit. Since the transporter was only working at limited capacity, they needed to stay close in order to bring Tom back. To avoid possible telescope detection, she ship was dark except for the red emergency lights. "Do you still have a good fix on him, Ayala?"

"Aye aye, Sir, no problems, scanners are working well and transporter shows ready."

"Paris to Voyager."

"Go ahead, Tom."

"I found the com badge, but no Tuvok or any readings on a Vulcan in this vicinity. The com badge was underground, in a mountain of garbage I had to phaser and then dig through, I think I'm at the dump. My guess is he lost it and it ended up here. It's pretty damaged, that's probably why we couldn't get a transporter lock on it. I'm ready to transport whenever you are."

"Understood, report to the briefing room with B'Elanna when you get back. Kim out."

Tom entered and sat the damaged com badge on the table in front of Harry. He thoughtfully examined it and placed it in the pile with Janeway's and Chakotay's. "Thanks, Tom, it was worth the try." He thought for a moment, "OK time for plan B. B'Elanna, reconfigure the sensors to scan for Vulcans. I know it's a long shot, but Tuvok's got to be the only Vulcan down there. I checked and the captain and commander are 100 Human, so there's nothing that would separate them from the rest of the people on Earth. We don't have enough fine tuning to scan for their specific DNA, but maybe we can find Tuvok? We'll start with Starling's office and work our way out, grid by grid, until we find him."

B'Elanna nodded, "OK, I'll reconfigure the scanners, but they're still limited, do you have any idea how long it could take to find one Vulcan down there?"

"You got any better ideas?" Harry said as he stood. "Sorry, didn't mean to snap. Yeah, I know it could take a long time, but it's all we've got right now. Tom, can you coordinate so that the ship will automatically stay positioned over the grid they're searching to give the sensors the best chance?"

"Yeah, I can do that, I'll get working on it right now. Don't worry, Harry, we'll find them!"

Almost a month later Ayala called Kim in his quarters and woke him from a sound sleep. "Sir, I think we have something!"

Harry rushed to the bridge and looked at the sensor read outs. "I agree, we can't be sure it's a Vulcan, but I think it's worth checking out. These are the first anomalous readings we've had and there shouldn't be anything down there now but Humans. I don't want to risk beaming it up in case we're wrong, but I'll send Tom down to check it out. Find the closest area where it looks like we can transport him down unobserved and send the coordinates to the transporter room. Harry banged his com badge so hard it probably left a bruise, "Kim to Paris, suit up, Captain Proton, time for another 20th century road trip!"

**CHAPTER NINE**

Rain tossed things out of her backpack looking for her keys. "Where are my keys? C'mon, Tuvok, we'll be late for work, put that damn Game Boy down, let's go!"

"Negative, we still have an 11.8 minute margin of delay before we would be assured of being late. I have almost reached the seventh level. Your keys are on the table by the door where you placed them last night," said Tuvok as he jammed buttons on the Game Boy, determined to wipe out the aliens.

"Fine! I'm going to the store on my lunch hour, do you need anything?"

"More AA batteries…and some toothpaste. The alien robot has regenerated, this is unexpected."

"Just zap it with your laser cannon and lets get going, we'll be late!"

"Very well, I shall resume the game this evening. I believe if I deploy some of my droids in anticipation of the alien robot's regeneration, it might prove an effective tactic."

Rain laughed as she quickly shoved more into her backpack and they headed out the door. "Face it Tuvok, nobody ever gets to level seven in that game, shit, there probably really isn't even a level seven. You're obsessed."

"Negative, I am not obsessed, that would be contrary to logic and, therefore, my nature. I merely find an adequate diversion in Galactic Space Battles. Such games engage the mind and the senses and improve mental acuity and hand eye coordination."

"Yeah, right, this coming from a guy who can't even work the remote control!"

"There is no need for me to learn to operate the remote control; television is a mindless waste of time. I do not understand your fondness for it. Your driving is erratic, you are exceeding the recommended velocity."

"You wanna be late for work and ruin your perfect record?"

"Not at the risk of my life. My record is not perfect, I was once 2.3 minutes late for work."

"Whoa, I bet Buster the Clown rolled over in his grave that morning!"

"Negative, Mr. Buster is not deceased, he lives in Encino and still personally supervises the operation of all 157 Buster Burger franchises. In fact, Mr. Singh displays an image taken with him in his office."

"Cool, well get out and have a nice day. I'll probably stop by the drive thru at lunch so I can eat on the way to the grocery store. Make sure I get some hot fries this time!" Rain sped off for her job at the car wash. Tuvok headed for Buster Burger, looking at his reflection in the door to be certain his hat and nametag were straight before entering.

Mr. Singh enthusiastically met him in the lobby. "Oh, friend Tuvok, always on time, always with uniform neat and clean, you are a gift from the gods! Is pretty lady in truck your girlfriend?"

"Negative, Mr. Singh, that would not be appropriate, I have a wife and four children. Miss Robinson is an acquaintance, she is employed at the car wash and provides me with transportation as I do not drive."

"Four? Oh, you are blessed friend Tuvok! I forget, you Amish man, no drive car. Please to come, I have a very very special job for you today!" Mr. Singh led Tuvok to the back of the restaurant where the drive thru menu board was located. "I always do this myself, but today, I want you to clean Buster!" He handed Tuvok the rag and cleaning solution."

"You wish me to clean the statue of Buster?" Singh nodded, clasped his hands and jumped up and down so enthusiastically he almost lost his turban. "Very well, I am sure this must be considered quite an… honor, thank you, Mr. Singh." Tuvok sprayed cleaner on the clown's head, but Singh quickly grabbed his rag and rushed in.

"Oh, no no no! You must not let soap get in his eyes, very very bad!"

Realizing that it would be pointless to explain to Mr. Singh that Buster was merely a plastic statue that contained the drive thru speaker, Tuvok deferred to Singh's love of California's favorite fast food icon. "Forgive me, I shall endeavor to be more careful. I would not want to…injure Mr. Buster."

Singh cleaned the drive thru menu board and Tuvok continued to carefully clean all the cracks and crevices of Buster's fiberglass pulchritude. When they finished they stood back and surveyed their work. "Oh, friend Tuvok, Buster has never looked more perfect, I have never seen him look so happy! Come, it is almost time for lunch rush, remember to push the Clowny Clucker Nuggets, warehouse mess up order, way too many in freezer, Cluckers everywhere."

"Indeed."

"Paris to Voyager."

"Kim here, what's it look like down there, Tom?"

"Well, you beamed me down a ways from nowhere, but I'm coming out of the woods now and up on a small town. I still have a fix on Tuvok and it's getting stronger, I have to be close. I never thought I'd say this, but I'll be so glad to see that green blooded up tight party pooper again. OK, there's a building across the way, he's in there. Oh no, it's worse than I thought, it's a fast food restaurant, he must have gone off the deep end. There's too many people around here, I've got to put my tricorder away, I'll call you as soon as I find him, Paris out."

"OK, Tom, we'll be standing by, Kim out."

Tom snapped his tricorder shut and slipped it and his com badge into his pockets. His enthusiasm got the best of him and he ran across the parking lot without looking and was nearly run over by a truck. "Watch where you're going you dumb ass!" he swore at the driver.

The driver rolled down the window. "Me? You ran right in front of me you shit head! Tom, Tom, is that you?"

"Rain? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Agent Paris," Rain smirked.

"I'm looking for Tuvok, have you seen him? Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine, he works at the Buster Burger. Seems his 'partner' ran off and left him in the lurch. I was just going to the drive thru for lunch, you wanna surprise him?"

Tom laughed, "He works at a Buster Burger? That den of sodium, cholesterol, artificial preservatives and trans fats? Well, the surprise is on me, did he finally mellow and lighten up?"

"Not a chance, hop in, you wanna drive?"

"Sure, and no theatrics this time, I promise." Tom pulled the truck up to the menu board.

Buster's friendly face squawked, "Welcome to Buster Burger, this is Tuvok, may I take your order please?"

Tom stifled a laugh. "Uh, yeah, hold on a minute." Once he composed himself he began "Yo, I'd like six Gut Buster Burgers, two with extra pickles, two with no pickles and all of them with extra cheese, but no lettuce and only one slice of tomato, not two, two twelve piece Clowny Cluckers, no make that four six piece Clowny Cluckers, one Baby Buster Burger, seven clown cars of fries, four Big Top Bass Burgers but don't put any tartar sauce on 'em, a Circus Salad, three Cokes, one orange, 5 root beers, a Baja Buster Burger and two chocolate Circus Sundaes, change one root beer to Dr. Pepper and, oh yeah, one Buster Bean Burger for my friend. Ya got that, Buster?"

Tuvok repeated the order back to him perfectly. "Will there be anything else, Sir?"

Tom turned to Rain, "Damn, he's good!" He leaned back out the window. "Yeah you got it screwed up, dude, that's four Gut Buster Burgers, extra catsup and no tomatoes, five clown cars of fries um…." Tom placed his palm over his mouth, making his speech unintelligible, and continued with the order. "You got that, Buster?"

"Negative, Sir, can you repeat your order? Please speak directly into the clown's mouth."

Tom couldn't stand it anymore "Tuvok, it's Tom Paris!"

"It is agreeable to hear your voice again, Mr. Paris, however you are holding up the line, please pull up to the window to place your order."

Tom parked, went in and got lunch for himself and Rain. Rain didn't want to lose her job, so she went back to work after lunch. When Tuvok told Mr. Singh he had to quit, the poor man was practically in tears and he hugged Tuvok profusely as Tom looked on and giggled at the Vulcan's discomfort at such an open display of emotion. Tuvok cleaned out his locker and he and Paris walked to the car wash to say goodbye to Rain.

Rain hugged Tom and said her goodbyes and then she turned to Tuvok. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to miss you, Agent Tuvok. Turns out you're not such a freakasaurus after all."

"Thank you, Miss Robinson, that is high praise indeed. I regret the problems Mr. Paris and I caused you. Here, this is my final pay envelope, please take it."

"Thanks. No problem, I like it here and I plan to stay. If you guys are ever back here again, stop in for a free car wash!" Rain rummaged through her backpack and gave Tuvok something wrapped in a bandana. "Here, keep this. Oops, phone's ringing, I gotta go, see ya Tuvok!" She gave him a gentle hug and rushed off to answer the phone.

Tom and Tuvok walked to a wooded area and, one at a time due to limited transporter function, beamed back to Voyager.

Kim stifled a laugh at Tuvok's Buster Burger uniform and greeted him enthusiastically, "Boy are we glad to see you Lieutenant Tuvok!"

"Indeed, it is agreeable to be back aboard Voyager. Mr. Paris has briefed me somewhat on ship's status, it is commendable that you were able to retrieve me and are proceeding well with repairs. Please call a meeting of the senior staff in the briefing room in one hour."

"Yes, Sir!"

Tom took Tuvok aside, "Tuvok, what was that Rain gave you?"

"Unknown, as I have not opened it as of yet." Tuvok took the gift from his pocket and opened the bandana as he spoke. "I shall return to my quarters for my uniform and will be on the bridge shortly. Ah, it is the Game Boy." Tuvok said as he exited the transporter room.

Harry grabbed Tom in disbelief, "Did Tuvok just… crack a smile?"

"Looked like it to me, make sure he goes to sick bay to get checked out!"

Tuvok entered the briefing room and took a seat at the head of the table. "It is agreeable to see all of you again and I commend you on your efforts to repair the ship and recover me. Obviously now our priorities are to continue with repairs and to retrieve Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. I have had time to review most of your status reports. Mr. Kim, what is the current status of the sensors?"

"We have one array operational, but with limited range and capacity. Unfortunately we can't fine tune them enough to scan for a particular person's DNA signature, so there's no way to scan for them. We could pick you out because you're Vulcan, but they're Human like everyone else on the planet. Honestly, I don't know what we'd scan for, Mr. Tuvok."

"Nor do I, at this point. Have you consulted with the doctor, perhaps he knows of something that might biologically differentiate them?"

"Yes, I talked to him on my way back to the bridge, he's working on it."

Tuvok turned to B'Elanna, "Lieutenant, what are the possibilities for increasing the efficiency of the sensors?"

"Well, we should have another array back online in a day or two, that virus we downloaded is still in almost every system on the ship and I still can't get programs to run right, as soon as they initialize, they crash and the virus keeps replicating and mutating, so anything we come up with to debug systems won't work the next time, it's like fighting the Borg, I've never seen anything like it!"

"I shall run a full diagnostic and see if I can…"

"EMH to Tuvok!" the Doctor interrupted.

"Go ahead, Doctor."

"I think I've found a way to find the Captain and Chakotay, if the sensors can do it. They both have dental work, tri-titanium dental work, and there wouldn't be any tri-titanium on Earth on the 20th century. Can you scan for that? I know it's a long shot, but that's the only thing about their bodies that would differentiate them from the other however many trillion Humans running around down there."

B'Elanna began pounding on her tricorder and mumbling to herself. Tuvok worked with his PADD as he spoke. "Thank you, Doctor, we shall see if that is possible, it is our most promising approach at present. Tuvok out."

Tom looked up from his tricorder. "We wouldn't have to scan for just tri-titanium, we could scan for any metals that weren't indigenous to 20th century Earth, they didn't have that many metals back then. Look at us, we all have various metals in our clothing, dental work, jewelry and so on and they probably did to. I remember the captain had a big metal hairclip on, you know how she is about her hair, she probably still has it."

"We can do it!" B'Elanna shouted. "They're working well enough to find something like that, we can configure them to search for any non-native metals. It will be slow because to get the accuracy for small quantities we have to use small search grids and we're essentially looking for needles in a haystack, but as long as we keep looking we'll eventually find them."

Tuvok rose from the table. "Very well, Lieutenant Torres, please return to engineering and work at getting more sensors online and increasing efficiency. Mr. Kim, you will be in charge of the search, program in the search parameters to look for all metals not indigenous to the 20th century and extend your grids from Los Angeles. I shall analyze the virus and see if I can find a solution. If Starfleet eventually allied with or subdued the Borg by the 29th century, it might very well be Borg technology and your analogy may be correct, Lieutenant Torres. For the time being, our main priority is to find and recover Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. Dismissed."

**CHAPTER TEN**

"Chakotay, stop fidgeting!" begged Flora as she slapped his hands. "Kathryn isn't in there giving birth, she's just getting her cast removed!"

"I know, but I don't understand why they wouldn't let me go with her."

Flora smiled and tried to reassure him by changing the subject. "Chakotay, have you and Kathryn thought about starting a family? I know you'd be wonderful parents and, just look at the two of you, you'd have beautiful babies!"

Chakotay let out a sigh and smiled, "Well, maybe someday."

Flora chuckled, "At Kathryn's age, someday would have to be pretty soon, my dear! I know your apartment is small, but there's plenty of room for a crib and I'd be glad to baby sit for you, raised three of my own, you know! Seal Breeze is a wonderful place to raise children."

"Yes, Ma'am, it is. What's taking so long? How do they get those things off anyhow?"

"Well, I'm not sure, with a saw I guess?" Chakotay cringed as Flora went on, "I wouldn't worry, obviously everyone who's had a cast removed lived through it and she'll be fine. Why don't you two plan a special evening to celebrate, maybe get a start on that baby?" she teased as she pinched his cheek. "We can stop at the store on the way back if you need anything for a special dinner."

Before he could answer Chakotay saw Kathryn come out of the examining room door and rushed up to meet her. "Hi there! You got it off, look at you, two feet now!"

"Yes, I thought they'd never get the damn thing off, but they finally did. I have to keep it wrapped, do some exercises to strengthen it and use a cane for a few days, but this is much better than the crutches! Hold on to my arm, I'm still a little wobbly and dreadfully slow, got to get the hang of walking on two feet again and, worse yet, I forgot to bring my other shoe!"

"Oh, I didn't think of that, Kathryn! You need something better than those beach sandals and all you have is your work boots that don't fit right and those silly white shoes you were wearing when we left. Let's stop and get you some better shoes on the way home."

"Well, I suppose some comfortable flat shoes would be a good idea, but my heels were not silly, I really liked those shoes and now they're all dirty and messed up and they were beige by the way, not white! They were mine, I didn't replicate them, and they were expensive and practically brand new…and Starfleet is going to pay for them; that whole outfit I was wearing when we left was mine and it's ruined now!"

"Good luck on that, Kathryn," Chakotay chucked. "I don't know why you wear such silly shoes anyhow, I'm surprised you haven't broken your ankle before. How many evenings back on the ship did I have to massage your aching feet because of those stupid high heels on your uniform boots? The whole crew knows how tall you really are, what's the point? Do you really think they'd stop obeying your orders if you were shorter?"

"Of course not, the point is I like them. Back at the Academy I got teased because I was an admiral's daughter, because I had reddish hair and I get all freckly in the summer sun and I also happened to be the shortest and smallest person in my squad and that got me teased too and saddled with a rather unfortunate nickname. When I graduated and got my officer's uniform, I decided I wasn't going to be short anymore, so there you have it!"

"What nickname did they call you, Kathryn?"

"Like I'd tell you!" she smirked as she shook her head.

"No, really, you can tell me, I won't tell anyone."

"Forget it, Chakotay! C'mon Flora went out to pull up the car, she's probably waiting."

They stopped and got Kathryn a pair of tennis shoes and picked up a few groceries on the way home. Kathryn was tired and her ankle was aching by time she got home, so she propped up her leg and promptly fell asleep. When she awoke she found Chakotay's note that he was working painting in room 17 and would be home in time to start dinner. Feeling guilty that he had had to do almost all the cooking and housekeeping for the last two months, she went to the kitchen, determined to make dinner herself. He came into the kitchen when he got home, but she chased him out and told him to shower and change and dinner would be on the table when he was done. He sat down at the table, nervously playing with his silverware as he remembered some of Kathryn's culinary disasters aboard Voyager. She sat his plate in front of him and waited for his reaction.

"It looks good, Kathryn." He politely said as he took a tentative bite and cautiously chewed. "This is good, Kathryn, it really is good! You made this?"

She took a playful swing at him, "Of course I made it! You didn't think I could really cook without a replicator, did you?"

"Well, no, not like this anyhow. Truth be known, you weren't too good with a replicator either."

"I may have spent the last two months sitting around, but I watched a lot of those cooking shows on TV and, when there wasn't much to do in the office, Flora showed me a lot of her recipes and wrote them down for me. I'll be right back, let me get my plate and the salad. Stay there, I can do it long as you're not in a hurry to eat!"

"I really am impressed, everything is good, this is better than anything Neelix ever made. OK, that's not saying much, but I really am amazed at how 'domestic' you've become. Is there more fried rice?"

"Yes, there's more of everything and I made dessert too. You should know better than to underestimate me, you know how determined I can be and that I'm a quick study. I just thought it was time I acquired some domestic skills. Go help yourself to seconds, I forgot my iced tea, can you bring that in please."

Chakotay rose from the table with his plate, "I can do better than that, I can kiss the cook too! Mmm, that's something else you're also getting very very good at, Kathryn! Maybe we can go down to the beach and practice after dinner?"

"Well, I'll think about it if you do the dishes."

"Consider them done! It's going to be dark soon, can we go down to the beach first and have dessert and coffee and I'll do the dishes when we get back? I know you want to look for shells and you can't do that in the dark."

"I don't know about going on the beach, I tried to walk down a ways to pick some of those wild flowers growing at the edge of the sand to put on the table and my cane sunk down and I lost my balance and fell. I had a hard time getting up, I had to wait until one of the guests came along to help me, all I could do was flop around like a very unladylike turtle on her back. My right leg is stiff and weak, I couldn't manage to draw it up under me to stand."

"Kathryn, you shouldn't have done that, what if you'd hurt yourself!"

"I knew you'd say that, you're such a worry wart, Chakotay."

"Can I help it if I love you? Here, let me get your jacket, it's chilly now. You can hop up on my back, turtle lady, and I'll carry you down by the water where the sand is harder and I'll hold onto you so you don't lose your balance. If you get tired, I can carry you or we can sit and take a rest."

Chakotay carried Kathryn down to the water's edge and they walked slowly on the hard sand where the surf met the shore. As Kathryn spotted interesting things, Chakotay bent down to pick them up and she examined them, either depositing them in her bag or throwing them back. She had become quite the expert on seashells and knew the names of many of them from memory now. Chakotay also found her new hobby to be interesting and was getting quite good at identifying shells as well.

"There!" Kathryn pointed, "That looks like an entire sand dollar, can you run out there when the waves roll back and get it? I don't have an intact one yet and I really want to try to find one."

"Oh, Kathryn, that's a ways out, I'll get so wet and that water is freezing; it only looks warm and I think it's only a piece of one." He noted her disappointed expression as she watched the sand dollar churn in the surf. "But, of course, for you I would walk on water if I could!" Chakotay rolled up his pants and tried several times to beat the incoming wave out and back to retrieve the sand dollar. He wasn't as fast as the sea and got good and wet retrieving the treasure, only to confirm that he was right and it was only a piece and not an intact sand dollar."

Kathryn flashed an consolatory smile as Chakotay tried to wring out his pant legs. "Oh well, you tried and I'm sorry but you were right and it was just another broken piece. I do appreciate you going out into the freezing water for me, I would have done it myself, but I know I couldn't have kept my balance and I would have fallen in and be wetter than you are now. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"You bet you will, I still can't feel my feet, Kathryn! How about we go sit up against that huge piece of driftwood back there and you can start making it up to me while we watch the sunset?" He carried her up the beach a bit and they settled in against the driftwood and cuddled up together. Kathryn was intent upon taking her newly collected shells out of the bag to examine them, but Chakotay had other ideas.

He finally gave up, "Kathryn, you're more interested in those shells than me!"

"Don't be silly, I am not!"

"Then put them away, you can look at them later, I want to watch the sunset." Chakotay again focused his attentions on Kathryn, actually watching the sunset was the farthest thing from his mind.

She gave in and put her shells back in the bag as he kissed and caressed her. "OK, but with you all over me I can't even see the sunset. It rains so much here we hardly ever get to enjoy a beautiful sunset like this one. Chakotay, stop that! If I'm a turtle, you're an damn octopus!"

"I'm sorry, Kathryn, too much too fast?" She smiled and nodded yes. "I should have been more direct, I thought you knew what I meant by 'watch the sunset', it seemed more tactful than asking you if you wanted to make out or watch the cloaked ship races," he grinned. "We've been so busy the last week or so we really haven't had much time together and I don't want to do this when we're in bed because you might think I'm trying to pressure you into doing something I know you're not ready for and I wouldn't do that. I thought maybe you'd be more comfortable here on the beach, where you knew it wouldn't go too far with so many other people around, but I guess I was wrong. If I was out of line, I apologize."

Kathryn smiled and put her arm around him. "You weren't out of line, I think it's me that is. I don't know how to explain it, but please don't think that I don't love you, because I do, more than anything, and don't think that I don't enjoy it when you kiss and touch me, because I do. Oh, Chakotay, I wish I could explain it to you, but I don't even understand it myself! Oh damn it!" she swore as she wiped a tear of frustration from her cheek.

He smiled at her and kissed the spot where the tear had been. "Kathryn, are you afraid of me, that I won't stop if you asked me too? Is that it?"

"No, no, absolutely not!" she shook her head as she took a moment to gather her thoughts. "That's not it at all, I think I trust you more than I have ever trusted anyone, even myself."

"Kathryn, is it…is it Mark then? Are you having trouble letting go? I know letting go is hard for you and, if you need more time, I understand."

"No, that's not it, at least I don't think that's it. It's been three years and I really think I've come to grips with it and I can look you in the face and honestly tell you that I have, but maybe, subconsciously I haven't. I don't know, I don't usually have trouble, you know me, when I make a decision I run with it, at least I used to."

"I know, that's one thing that made you such a good captain." He thought for a moment. "Is that it, are you worried that, if Voyager does somehow manage to get us back, that you won't be able to do your job if we're… more than friends?"

"No, we already discussed that and I'm not afraid of that and I have no intention of doing what I did after New Earth and all but pretending that what we shared didn't happen. That was wrong and I think we both know that now. Not to dwell on the past, but you told me you loved me there and I never told you that I did too, something I still regret. I know there are risks, but, come hell or high water or Borg, we can run the ship no matter what. Right?"

"I have no doubts of that, Kathryn. I haven't given up hope of them finding us either, but I want to make it clear that what happens here is for keeps, I have no intention of pretending it didn't happen this time. I'll still be the same guy on the bridge, but, off duty, I expect to sit and watch the sunset with you every once in awhile. Is that clear, Captain?"

"Perfectly, Commander!" Kathryn smiled as she put her arms around Chakotay's neck. "Permission to kiss to first officer?"

"Granted!"

Kathryn and Chakotay "enjoyed the sunset" for a few minutes until it began to get dark and much colder, so he picked her up and they headed back home. Good to his word, he did the dishes and made coffee and tea while Kathryn sorted out her shells and compared them to her book. Chakotay brought the dessert to the coffee table and joined Kathryn on the sofa.

"How's your ankle?"

"Not too bad, actually, it just throbs a little. I think I'll be good as new in a couple more days." She picked up the knife, "Brave enough to try a piece of this cake?"

"Sure, it looks good, what kind is it?"

"Well, it's supposed to be Mom's double fudge cake, but I had to do the recipe from memory and it doesn't look exactly like it should, so eat at your own risk."

Chakotay took a big bite, "It's good, Kathryn."

She tried a bite, set her plate down and kissed him. "Now I know you love me, it's awful! I must have left something out. Relax, Chakotay, you don't have to eat it."

He put his plate down and returned her kiss, "Thanks, it is a little…crispy, but maybe the seagulls will like it? Don't worry about it, the rest of the meal truly was wonderful, I mean that. We still have some ice cream, how about I go get us two bowls of that?"

Kathryn thought for a moment. "How about one bowl and two spoons and we share… you know, like back on the ship when I said I didn't want any and you'd bring one bowl and two spoons because you knew I really did and I'd end up eating half of it?"

He laughed so hard he spilled his tea. "Oh, yes, I remember that, it's a wonder I didn't starve to death as much as you picked off my plates in the last three years, Kathryn." He continued the conversation from the kitchen as he dished up the ice cream. "I always liked that about you, almost from the get go you were sharing food with me, well, I was sharing food with you is more like it. It was one of our clandestine little ways of being intimate without crossing the line, wasn't it?"

She smiled thoughtfully as she dug her spoon into the ice cream. "I guess it was, wasn't it? We always could talk to each other about almost anything, but we certainly did have our little ways of pushing the line without actually crossing it, didn't we? I always liked that too and, just to think, you have me to thank for your waistline…and I have you to thank for mine," she giggled as she took another enormous spoonful of ice cream.

"Oh, Kathryn, you could put on a few kilos and you'd still look fine! In fact, you could be pregnant with twins and you'd look great too!"

Kathryn laughed, "Well, I was 'pregnant with twins' back at the onion farm and it wasn't all it's cracked up to be and, if I don't stop eating ice cream, I'm going to look like I'm pregnant, so you go ahead and finish it. I want to finish identifying my shells, read a couple more chapters and then take the longest bubble bath I've ever taken now that I can do it without having to put a trash bag on my right leg and keep it propped up on the side of the tub!"

"Oh, that's right, you haven't been able to get all of you in the bathtub since we got here, have you? Well, I'll take my shower first and then you can stay as long as you want to unless…unless maybe you'd like to share a bath? Back on Voyager I could sometimes hear you thumping around in your bathtub from my bathroom and I always had this fantasy that maybe someday we could take a bath together? Before you say no, I mean just take a bath, nothing more than that…unless you want."

She grinned sheepishly, "Well, I know you've seen me naked, but I wouldn't really be comfortable sharing a bath just yet…"

He cut her off, "Kathryn, I've never seen you naked, trust me, I'd remember that! When do you think I saw you naked?"

"Back on New Earth, the bathtub…"

"You mean the night the monkey scared you? You had a big towel on when I came out, all I saw was your shoulders and your feet. OK, I might have enjoyed the view, but that's all I saw, I swear."

"I know, but it was right across from the door; do you mean to tell me you never looked, not even a little? C'mon, I know you, 'fess up, Chakotay, I won't be mad, I promise," she said as she pinched his side.

"There's nothing to confess to, Kathryn, I respected your privacy and I never looked, I swear. Was I tempted? Well, yes, hell yes, I admit that, but I never looked. I didn't put the tub where I did so that I could watch you take a bath, I had to put it there so that I could get water to it, there wasn't enough spare pipe to put it farther away and I had plans to build an enclosure around it, I just didn't have time."

"Oh, Chakotay, I owe you an apology, I'm so sorry! Before you forgive me, I also have a confession to make. I went down to the river one afternoon to pick some of those wild flowers that grew down there and you were skinny dipping and I, well, sort of saw you…a lot of you…all of you in fact. I never said anything because I didn't want to embarrass you."

He gathered her into his arms and flashed her a wicked smile, "I wouldn't have been embarrassed, Kathryn, you know us Indians, we run around naked all the time! You could have joined me, you know."

"You!" she slapped him on the arm. "Kathryn Janeway does not skinny dip! I wasn't raised by 'savages' like you were!"

"I'll get you for that, Kathryn!" He pinned her arms and kissed her soundly on the lips. "Anything else you'd like to confess?"

"I surrender!" she exclaimed as he kissed her again and pulled her onto his lap.

"I'm not falling for that one, Kathryn Janeway doesn't surrender either."

"Yes she does, want to apologize to me again?" She kissed him sweetly on the lips.

"As I recall, you were apologizing to me, Kathryn."

"Was I?" She kissed him again.

"Damned if I can remember!"

Kathryn and Chakotay spent several more weeks together in Seal Breeze. Kathryn's ankle fully healed, but it took longer than she expected it to. Once it did heal, she was able to return to work full time and had the motel's gardens looking prettier than they ever had before. Thanks to their efforts, the motel was once again the showplace it had been in years past. Kathryn and Chakotay settled into a comfortable routine of working and socializing with Flora, Woody and their friends or spending time on the beach in the evenings, but they still thought about the life they had left behind on Voyager often.

Life in the twentieth century offered its challenges, but they met them head on; they bought an electric can opener and a boom box. They clipped coupons and learned how to ride the bus and to navigate the aisles of Walmart on Saturday mornings and all the clerks at the local Starbuck's knew Kathryn by name. Their lifestyle was modest, but rich with the simple pleasures of life that they often didn't have time for back on Voyager. Sunny weather was rare in Seal Breeze, but it was always fully taken advantage of when it happened and early mornings or sunsets on the beach were most thoroughly enjoyed.

Chakotay entered the apartment with a basket full of laundry. "Kathryn, where are you? The laundry's done and whose turn is it to make dinner?"

"I'm in here, cleaning the bathroom! You know perfectly well it's your turn to make dinner and be quick about it, I'm starved!"

Chakotay entered the bathroom and laughed at Kathryn, down on her hands and knees, cleaning the tub. "There's something I never thought I'd see, the legendary Starfleet Captain Kathryn Janeway cleaning a bathtub!"

"Well, now you've seen it and who the hell do you think cleaned my bathroom back on Voyager, my dear? I'll have you know a good starship captain can not only command her ship, she can clean and repair it as well. Rank may hath its privileges, but I started at the bottom of the food chain just like everyone else. Speaking of the food chain, what's for dinner?"

"How about I take you out to the Taco Bell? I fixed the trailer hitch on the car for those folks in room 12 and they were so grateful they insisted on giving me twenty dollars, so we can order anything we want."

"Well, I'm sure you're just trying to get out of cooking, but as long as there's extra guacamole in the deal… and no onions, you're on!"

"Fair enough! Kathryn, sit down, I have something to give you. You remember that awful fight that couple in room 6 had the other night when the police came and all?" Kathryn nodded her head as she smoothed her hair back into place. "Well, they left this behind and Flora called them about it and they told her the marriage was over, to just throw it away. Anyhow, since you don't have a wedding ring she figured we'd had to sell yours for money, so she gave this to me to give to you." Chakotay handed Kathryn the simple gold band and she held it out in her palm, looking rather confused. Chakotay smiled, "If you don't want to wear it, we can just say that it didn't fit you, but I told Flora I'd give it to you; she thought you should have a ring I guess."

Kathryn thought for a moment and handed it to Chakotay and held out her left hand and smiled, "Well, go ahead."

He slid the ring on her finger and intertwined his fingers with hers. "I never thought you'd let me put a ring on this finger, Kathryn."

She looked deep into his eyes and then started giggling, "Well, I have to confess I had thought that it might happen…. someday, but I just never thought I'd be sitting on a toilet when it happened." They both had a good laugh and caught their breath.

Chakotay pulled Kathryn to her feet and held her hands, "I know it's not for real, but may I kiss the bride anyhow?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" replied Kathryn as they embraced and kissed. "OK, now let me get my hair fixed and we can go show Flora and thank her and then you promised to take your 'wife' out to dinner as I recall."

"Yes, Dear!" Chakotay grinned as he batted his lashes at her. "Does this mean that, when we get back, we can start the honeymoon?"

Kathryn smiled as she tied a ribbon around her pony tail, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Chakotay, but you never know, the bathtub is clean after all!"

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

"Kim to Tuvok."

"Yes, Ensign," said Tuvok as he sat up in his bed and activated the lights.

"Sorry to disturb you, Sir, but I have something on the sensors here I think you should see. I have a confirmed reading of latinum and I don't think this is another false alarm, Sir, I think we found them," Kim explained with a note of optimism in his voice as he adjusted the sensors on his panel. "They're up in Oregon, a good ways from Los Angeles, but maybe they had to travel to avoid Starling like you did?"

"Very well, Ensign, I shall be on the bridge shortly, Tuvok out."

"Kim to Paris, wake up and get up here on the double, Helm Boy, I think we've found something and I need your fancy finger work on the controls to sneak us down for a better look. Hurry up, Tuvok is already on his way. Tom? Wake up, Buddy, this is it!"

"Ugh," Tom mumbled as he tried to shake the sleep from his head and fathom what he'd just heard. "I got you, Harry, I'll be right up…and I hope you're right this time. Helm Boy out."

Paris and Tuvok arrived on the turbolift together and examined the readings on Harry's sensor display. Tuvok made an adjustment and took further readings before speaking. "I agree, Ensign Kim, this does appear to be a small quantity of latinum, which of course should not be present on 20th century Earth. Mr. Paris, please position the ship directly over the coordinates and take us down as close as possible without risking detection. With limited sensor capacity we will need to get as exact a position as possible for the beam down coordinates. Watch your monitor carefully so that you can take evasive action immediately if we are detected."

"Aye, aye!" replied Paris as he took his seat at the helm and took Voyager down for a closer look.

The mood was tense but hopeful as Tom took the ship down and Kim and Tuvok completed their scans. Kim was finally satisfied that he had the best approximation of the coordinates of the latinum and locked the coordinates into his panel. "That's it, Tuvok, the best the sensors can come up with considering that they're still not working at normal efficiency. It may not be right on target, but it shouldn't be that far off and someone down there with a tricorder should be able to find them."

Tuvok sent the coordinates to the transporter room and met Kim's gaze with a look of satisfaction. "Very well, Mr. Kim, I suggest you put on some appropriate clothing and beam down to retrieve the Captain and Commander."

Kim looked at him with some amazement, "Me, Sir?"

"You are the one that found them, Mr. Kim, and you would certainly be less…conspicuous than I. Is it not logical you should be the one to beam down and bring them back?"

"Yes, Sir!" replied Kim as he grabbed his tricorder and headed for the transporter room.

Harry beamed down into a wooded area away from any structures to insure that his materialization would go unobserved. He immediately took out his tricorder and began scanning for latinum. His hands were shaking as he scanned, excited at the possibility of finding Janeway and Chakotay safe and sound after so many months has passed. He analyzed his readings and tapped his com badge, "Kim to Voyager, it appears I'm about a kilometer east of their location, I'll report in again as soon as I'm closer."

Harry began walking towards the coordinates, coming down a hill as he came out of the woods and across a large field. As he walked along the streets he couldn't help but admire the pristine quaintness of his surroundings and wondered if 24th century Oregon were still as charming. His first encounter with a passing car was quite a jolt, the emissions of an internal combustion engine were not so quaint. As his tricorder honed in on the location, he wondered if he could hold himself together and be professional when he saw Janeway and Chakotay again or if he would forget protocols and follow what his gut wanted him to do and hug them. They may have been his commanding officers, but they were also his mentors and, most importantly, his dear friends.

"Kim to Voyager."

"Tuvok here, have you arrived at the coordinates yet, Mr. Kim?"

"Yes, Sir, it appears to be a motel and I think I have the room located. Yes, definitely, the latinum is in there. I'm knocking at the door, but there's no answer and the door's locked. It's an old style mechanical lock, do you want me to use my phaser to try to disable it and get inside?"

"Negative, we will use the transporter to beam you inside the room. Perhaps if you examine the contents of the room you can ascertain if the captain or the commander are living there and if the latinum is indeed one of their possessions. We shall maintain an open com link so that we can beam you out if you encounter any problems. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," replied Harry as he materialized on the other side of the door. He walked around and looked over the apartment as he reported, "It's not really a motel room, it's more like an apartment. Here's a half finished cup of coffee, the captain has to be here!" Harry exclaimed as he picked up the coffee cup.

"Hardy conclusive," admonished Tuvok, "many Humans consume coffee. Have you located the latinum yet, Mr. Kim?"

"Uh, no Sir, scanning…here it is, I found it in a seashell box on the dresser, it's a necklace, it looks like an alligator I think. I don't remember either of them ever wearing a necklace, but it's definitely made of latinum. There's clothes and books and stuff here, but I can't say I'm sure any of it belongs to the captain or Chakotay." He opened a drawer and eyed the neatly folded floral print Hawaiian muu muu and muttered to himself, "at least I hope it doesn't!"

"Very well, please make sure you leave everything exactly as you found it and beam back to the ship. If their situation is similar to what I experienced, they might have had to get jobs and are simply at work at the present time. It is also possible one of them lost the necklace or it was stolen as armed robberies were apparently commonplace in that era, and you are not in their location. We will beam you back down later, when the occupants of the apartment have, hopefully, returned."

Harry reluctantly beamed back to Voyager, but he was sure he was in the right place, it had to be. After so many months of searching he, they had to be right, this was probably their last hope…and half finished cups of coffee didn't lie. Harry went to the mess hall and was met with a barrage of inquiries, but his only answer could be that he hoped they were right. He picked at his food to pass the time, but the knot in his stomach would not allow him to actually swallow anything. Finally, deciding that Tuvok's pessimism was misplaced, Harry made his way to the transporter room, determined that he was on his way to a happy reunion.

"Kim to Voyager, I can see under the door that the lights are on now and they weren't before, but I knocked and got no answer. Do you want to beam me in so I can scan for residual DNA with the medical tricorder the doctor gave me?"

"Affirmative, but keep an open com link so we can beam you out if necessary. Transporter room, energize. Mr. Kim, are you detecting any residual DNA? … Mr. Kim?"

Harry was so excited he could hardly speak. "They're here, Tuvok, they're here, I can hear them!" he whispered.

The slightest trace of a smile crossed Tuvok's face, although he would no doubt describe it as "satisfaction". "Captain, Commander, are you well?"

"Uh," Harry whispered, "I'm not exactly with them right now, they're, well, they appear to be… indisposed right now, Sir."

"Mr. Kim, given the situation I think it would be appropriate to disturb them as I doubt an intrusion for rescue would be un-welcomed."

"Uh, Sir, I think they're…well, Sir, … they're kinda, well… I think they're in the bathtub right now!"

"I see." replied Tuvok as his eyebrows reached a new height. Tom Paris smiled as he began tapping in a message for B'Elanna. "In that case, I shall leave the matter to your discretion. Please have the captain contact me at her earliest convenience. Tuvok out."

Harry debated going outside and returning later, but decided they might hear him open the door. He did not want to intrude on what was obviously a private moment, but he could hardly contain himself at the thought of being reunited with Janeway and Chakotay either. As he listened to the laughter and splashing coming from the slightly ajar bathroom door, he tried to envision what was going on in there and quickly stowed the notion under "Don't even think about it, Harry" and decided he'd been spending entirely too much time with Tom Paris. As he tried to decide what to do with himself, the bathroom door banged open and Janeway and Chakotay emerged, chasing one another and shrieking with laughter. Harry stopped dead in his tracks and just stared as words wouldn't come to his mouth nor movement to his legs.

Kathryn screamed and banged into Chakotay as she hurried back to the bathroom to get a towel.

"Harry!" Chakotay exclaimed as he started forward. Realizing his current state of nakedness, he headed back to the bathroom for a towel as he continued, "Boy am I glad to see you!" As he emerged, now clad in a towel, to shake Harry's hand, Kathryn and her towel made a mad dash for the bedroom to retrieve her robe.

Harry shook Chakotay's hand warmly as they embraced and slapped each other on the back. "Harry, my gods, you finally found us! Is the ship alright?"

"Yes, Sir, everything's fine, it just took us awhile to find you, that's all."

Janeway emerged in her robe and handed Chakotay his as she shook Harry's hand and pulled him into a hug. "Took you long enough, Mr. Kim!"

Harry was still overcome with emotion and embarrassment, but he managed to pull himself together well enough for coherent speech. "Captain, it's so good to see you! Sorry it took us so long, we had a few problems, Ma'am. Here," he said as he handed her his com badge, "I think Tuvok wants to talk to you."

Janeway contacted the ship and Tuvok filled her in on what had transpired over the past months and which problems had yet to be resolved. Thinking what she had learned while snooping in Starling's computer would enable her to rid Voyager's systems of the virus that was still causing so many problems, Kathryn quickly dressed and prepared to return to Voyager to, hopefully, debug the system.

"Harry, Chakotay, I'm going to beam up and see what I can do. Harry, you stay here and help Chakotay pack and I'll be back as soon as I can. Janeway to Voyager, energize." As she stood there waiting, Kathryn fondly looked over the tiny apartment that had been her home for the past months and, although she knew her duty was to her ship, she found herself torn between what she wanted to do and what she knew she had to do. "I'm still here, is there a problem?"

"Good to hear your voice, Captain!" replied B'Elanna. "We sure missed you. I'm afraid there's a problem, when I tried to energize all the relays blew out again. It's that damned virus! I'm sorry, Captain, I'll get right to work, but if it's like the last time it's going to take us hours to get the system to reinitialize and then I'll have to run test sequences again to make sure it's safe. I'm sorry, but it looks like you guys are stuck down there for a little bit longer."

Kathryn sighed, but she wasn't sure if it was from disappointment or relief. "Good to hear your voice too, B'Elanna. Understood. I think I have some ideas about that virus from what I saw on Starling's computer, can you establish an uplink from Harry's tricorder?"

"Yes, Ma'am, that I can do!" replied B'Elanna as she was already feverishly working to repair the transporter.

"Good, I'll send you what I know as soon as I can. We're fine here, please contact us as soon as you have the transporter working again. Janeway out." Kathryn turned to Harry and Chakotay and let out another sigh. "Well, Mr. Kim, it looks like you're a guest of 20th century Earth too, can I get you anything? Have you had dinner, are you hungry?"

"Uh, yes Ma'am, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Not at all, we have some leftover lasagna, I'll warm some up for you. Have a seat, Harry, warming up food here takes a lot longer than on Voyager…and don't worry, Mr. Kim, I've had a chance to learn how to cook since I've been here!"

"Uh, that's good to know, Captain." Harry looked at Chakotay, who patted his arm to reassure him that he was not about to be poisoned.

As Harry ate Janeway put her insights into the tricorder and Chakotay filled him in on what had happened to them in the past months of their stay on Earth. Harry listened with interest as he cleaned his plate and scarfed down seconds as well.

Janeway took a break and sat her tricorder down. "What's the matter, Harry, don't they feed you up on that ship?"

"Um, yes, Ma'am," said Harry as he tried to swallow an enormous mouthful, "but it's not as good as this! Maybe when we get back you can fire Neelix and run the mess hall yourself?"

Kathryn laughed as she sipped her coffee, "Not a chance, Mr. Kim, not a chance, but maybe I could at least give him the recipe. Are you still hungry? I'd be glad to get you something else, we have plenty of food."

"Oh, no Ma'am, I couldn't eat another bite. It really was good, Captain, but I don't know how you can manage without a replicator and nothing but those antique appliances in there."

Chakotay got up to take Harry's plate to the kitchen. "You get used to it, Harry. At first it was pretty tough, but 20th century life really isn't all that bad, I like it a lot more than I thought I would. Harry, the motel has a heated indoor pool, how long has it been since you've had a swim in real non-holographic water?"

"Years, Sir!"

"Good, well, you can borrow my swim suit and towel and we'll get things packed up while you have a swim. The apartment was furnished, so most of this stuff isn't ours, we don't need any help packing, stay as long as you like and enjoy the pool."

Harry changed and left for the pool and Kathryn and Chakotay started packing in the bedroom. "Here, Chakotay, we can use trash bags to gather things and then have them beam down a cargo container. I don't think we have that much, but I know there's some things I want to take with me. The coveralls, work boots and this awful muu muu stay, but I want to take most of my other clothes and my shell collection and my books and knitting supplies. I also want to take the electric can opener."

"Why do you want to take that, Kathryn? There's no cans on Voyager to open!"

"I know, but it was the first thing we bought together, it'll make a nice bookend. I'd like to take the coffee maker, it makes good coffee, but that belongs to the apartment, so I guess we can't. I'd like to take our houseplants, but I guess that's silly."

"No, Kathryn, it's not silly, we can put them in a box for now, there's one in the closet. We have another problem to think about, what are we going to tell Flora and Woody?"

"Oh my gosh, I hadn't even thought about that! Well, we obviously can't tell them the truth, maybe we can say Harry is our friend from Indiana and he's come to take us back home or something like that. I hate to just take off and leave them like we have to, they've been so good to us."

"I know," Chakotay lamented as he put the oatmeal boxes containing Kathryn's shell collection into a bag, "I almost feel like I have my grandparents again. You know they will want to know how to get in touch with us, what do we tell them? They'll never hear from us again, I hate that thought. They'll probably want to see us off, that could be a problem. I hate to say this, but it might work out better if we just beam back and leave them a note saying that we had to leave in a rush due to a family emergency or something like that. Tomorrow is Saturday and I heard them say they would be leaving early to visit some friends in Portland and would be gone all day."

Kathryn sighed as she sat on the bed. Chakotay sat beside her and put his arm around her. She gathered her thoughts and fought back tears as she spoke, "I guess we'll have to leave a note; I agree, that's probably the best way to avoid having to explain anything. I really hate the thought, but I don't see any other alternative." They got up and started packing again, "Let's finish up in here and you can pack up the other rooms and I'll write them a letter and we can both sign it. Let's do it now, before Harry comes back, he doesn't need to see what writing that letter will do to us. What's in that little box you just pulled out of the back of that drawer, Chakotay?"

"Nothing, just a little keepsake I want to take back."

"The box is lovely, you made it, didn't you? What's in it, let me see, please." Chakotay nodded and reluctantly handed Kathryn the box. She opened it and looked inside. "Is this… my hair?"

Chakotay smiled as he took the lock of hair, tied together with a little pink bow, from her. "It is, remember when I chewed off your gag back in the desert and accidentally chewed off some of your hair? Well, I kept it. I love your hair, Kathryn, and I always wanted a lock of it, but I was too afraid to ask, I thought you'd think it was silly."

She smiled and kissed him softly on the cheek. "No, I think it's sweet, it's an old tradition, you know, exchanging locks of hair. If you'd asked I would have cut one off for you. Here, go cut off a lock of your hair for me and I'll put my spirit guide necklace back on and put it in the lizard's box. I took it off last time I went in the pool and forgot to put it back on this morning. You're going to have to get your hair cut when we get back to the ship anyhow, so you won't miss it. It's too bad, I like your hair longer."

"And I like yours down, any chance of changing the regulations? Just kidding, Kathryn! You know, it was that lizard that let them find us. Harry told me they scanned for metals not indigenous to 20th century Earth and they found that latinum and that's how they found us. They were actually looking for the tri-titanium in our dental work, but that much latinum turned up first."

Kathryn slipped the lizard back on her neck. "This is latinum? I didn't know, I thought it was silver or maybe illirium. Latinum can't be replicated and it isn't indigenous to the Delta Quadrant, how did you get this much latinum, Chakotay?"

"I traded replicator rations with Crewman Bjorklund for a latinum bracelet she had."

"Heavens!" Kathryn exclaimed, "That must have cost you a month's replicator rations!"

"A month and a half actually, she drives a hard bargain. I wanted it to be special and really nice and latinum is an excellent metal to work with. C'mon, Kathryn, let's finish packing up and get that letter written before Harry gets back."

Kathryn pulled a bag out from a dresser drawer. "Here, I made this for you, I was saving it for your birthday, but I'll give it to you now. It's got some mistakes, but I hope you like the color and it fits."

Chakotay removed the sweater from the bag and put it on. "Oh, Kathryn, this is beautiful, it must have taken you weeks to knit this, the pattern is so intricate, and it fits perfectly. Thank you, Kathryn, I love it. I love you."

"You're welcome, Chakotay, I'm glad you like it, I got the pattern from one of Flora's knitting magazines. Well, lets get going, this stuff isn't going to pack itself and I have a letter to write."

Kathryn sat at the dinette and wrote a letter to Flora and Woody as tears streamed down her face. Chakotay finished packing and put a blanket, pillow and a pair of pajamas on the couch for Harry. They read through the letter and both signed it and placed it in an envelope. When Harry finally returned they checked in with the ship, chatted, had tea and settled in for the night.

"So, Kathryn, were you glad to see Harry or not?"

She laughed softly as she snuggled closer. "Yes, I was glad to see him, but I would have been a lot happier about it if I'd had some clothes on. I wonder how long he was there, how much he heard? It probably sounded like we were doing a lot more than we were doing…and, stop that, I'm not in the mood and Harry's right out there on the sofa!"

"I wasn't doing anything, Kathryn, I'm just trying to get comfortable. Don't worry, Harry isn't like Tom, he won't tell everyone how pretty the captain is _au natural_, he was probably more mortified than you were; his face was certainly redder than yours. At least he'll have a good story to tell his grandchildren some day about back when he was an ops officer."

Kathryn poked Chakotay in the ribs, "Why doesn't that make me feel any better? I love our life here and the Kathryn in me wants to stay, but the Janeway in me knows that I still have Starling to deal with and a ship full of people I promised I'd get back home. Well, let's try to get some sleep, I want to get up early and take one last walk on the beach before we have to go. Goodnight, Chakotay, sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Kathryn, and thank you for earlier this evening, it was very special, even if it didn't end up exactly like we'd planned. You're beautiful and I love you. Sleep well, Sweetheart."

The next morning Kathryn and Chakotay got up at dawn and quietly crept past a sleeping Harry Kim and enjoyed a last walk on the beach together. They checked in with the ship and B'Elanna assured them they'd be back for dinner, if not earlier. When they returned to their apartment Harry was still asleep, so they walked down to Starbucks and bought coffee and pastries for breakfast.

Harry tried his coffee and smiled, "Wow, this sure doesn't taste like Neelix's coffee, I haven't had anything this good since I left San Francisco. We should take some back, we could trade it for dozens of replicator rations and hours of holodeck time!"

Kathryn's somber mood suddenly brightened as she sprang from the table for a notepad and pencil. "Harry, you're brilliant! Chakotay, we have a lot of money saved up, right?" Although puzzled, he nodded. "It won't do anyone any good back on Voyager, so go get it, we're going shopping! Let's all go to the Food King and spend every penny we have and take all the food we can back to the ship. Chakotay, go dig out some civilian clothes for Harry to wear, we're on a mission!"

The trio walked to the grocery store, showing Harry the sights along the way. They each got a shopping cart and loaded them with fresh fruits and vegetables, candy, fresh bread and pastries, various kinds of dessert mixes and, of course, plenty of coffee. Using the tricorder to keep track, they managed to end up with only 42 cents to spare.

"Mission accomplished!" beamed Janeway as she pushed her cart out of the store. "Chakotay, make sure we take some of that coffee and stash it with my things; I love my crew, but I'm pulling rank on the coffee issue: rank hath its privileges. Harry, why did you insist on buying all those Froot Loops? They're god awful, you know, and there you were, begging me like a six year old to buy you that damn cereal! You almost made me lose it right there in aisle three, I'm surprised you didn't call me 'Mommy'."

Harry put his hand over his mouth to hide his grin before he explained, "They're not for me, Ma'am, they're for Tuvok. Seems he developed a taste for them while he was here and he's been pestering Neelix to come up with a recipe for them ever since. Captain, how exactly are we going to get all this stuff back to your apartment?"

"Yes, Captain, how are we?" asked Chakotay as he grinned at her. "Did you think we could just beam it up from the parking lot…or maybe we could have them send down a shuttle to pick it up? They could land it right over there, beside the Photo Hut."

Kathryn rubbed her forehead, "One little oversight!… Alright you two, if you don't want to be cellmates in the brig, I suggest you stow it right now! The manager knows me, I'll ask him if we can borrow the shopping carts to take it home, I'm sure he won't mind." Kathryn returned in a few minutes with another bag and a smile on her face. "Not only can we borrow the shopping carts, he redeemed my shoppers club card early and gave me the free turkey since we just spent so much! Gentlemen, shall we?"

They wheeled their cache home and had lunch before taking the shopping carts back. Tuvok reported that they would begin running test sequences on the transporter within the hour and, if all went well, could then beam them back to Voyager. Chakotay requested that they beam down cargo containers first, both as a test and so that they could pack them up before returning. Kim helped Chakotay pack up the last few things as Kathryn packed up the remaining food in the kitchen. When they were done Harry asked if he could go outside and pick some flowers, so Kathryn and Chakotay were left alone in their apartment for a few last minutes.

Chakotay sat on the sofa and beckoned Kathryn to join him. "I wonder which Delaney sister the flowers are for?"

Kathryn laughed, "Does it matter? It's been three years and I still can't tell those two apart! Well, Chakotay, I guess this is it? I'm anxious to get back, but part of me, a lot of me, will be sorry to leave this place. If I had to get separated from my ship and marooned here for months, I'm so glad it was with you and I want you to know, what we've shared here, what we've become, is going back with me."

Chakotay kissed her gently, "I'm glad to hear that, Kathryn, and don't worry, I won't slip and call you 'Sweetheart' on the bridge, I promise. A lot of me wants to stay here too, so I guess we'll just have to figure out how to get our ship home and then maybe we could see if Seal Breeze is still as wonderful in the 24th century? Would you like that, Kathryn, to get a place together in a small town on the beach like this?"

"More than anything, Chakotay! Let's go down to the ocean one more time, there's something I want to do."

Chakotay laughed as he got up and pulled Kathryn to her feet. "Not more shells!"

"No, I want to write our names in the sand. That beach and that ocean have meant a lot to us, I just want to remind them we were here and say thank you and goodbye. Oh, you think that's silly, don't you?"

"Not at all, Kathryn, not at all."

Kathryn and Chakotay returned to the apartment just as Harry did with his arms full of flowers. Kathryn wrapped the stems in some wet paper towels, secured them in a plastic bag and placed them in the box with her houseplants for safe transport back to the ship. As she was drying her hands, she was interrupted by Tuvok's hail.

"Captain, we are ready to begin transport. We shall beam down the requested cargo containers, please signal us when they are packed and you are ready. I am pleased to report that the information you sent to Lieutenant Torres was most helpful and she reports that all ship's systems should be purged of the virus by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Tuvok. The first cargo container should go to my quarters and beam the rest to the mess hall and tell Mr. Neelix that dinner's on us! I'll see you all shortly, Janeway out."

They quickly packed up the cargo containers, making sure to place a significant amount of the coffee into the container for Janeway's quarters. Harry chuckled as he placed the Froot Loops into Janeway's container, wondering if Tuvok really liked them or he was just collecting the toucan whistles that came inside the box. Somehow he just couldn't picture Tuvok sitting down with a bowl of such silly Technicolor cereal. A quick check revealed that everything was packed, so the cargo containers were transported up and then Harry followed them.

Kathryn and Chakotay held hands and took one last walk around the tiny apartment that had been their home. They didn't talk, they just walked in silence, straightening a picture here, smoothing out a curtain there, making sure everything was tidy.

Chakotay took Kathryn into his arms and kissed her, "Are you ready?"

"No, but let's go anyhow. Thank you, Chakotay, for making life here so wonderful, I love you." He smiled and caressed her back as he let go of her hand. "Janeway to Voyager, two to beam up."

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

As soon as they materialized, B'Elanna rushed forward to hug them, this was no time for protocols. "Welcome back, you don't know how much we missed you, Captain, Chakotay! You both look great, life on 20th century Earth must agree with you. Almost everyone is in the rec hall, they're anxious to see you. I'm sure you want to get up to the bridge, but maybe you could stop by first? Neelix has a little something planned in the mess hall tonight too and, oh, the Doctor wants you to stop by sickbay to get checked out- regulations."

"It's good to see you too, B'Elanna, we missed everyone so much, but all this fuss isn't necessary, really. We'll go down to the rec hall and then stop by sick bay to placate the good doctor and we'll see you in the mess hall this evening. Thanks for all your hard work, B'Elanna, it certainly is nice to be back."

Kathryn and Chakotay boarded the turbolift for the rec hall. Kathryn paused the lift, turned to Chakotay and hugged him, "Just give me a minute, OK?"

"Take all the time you need, Kathryn, it's OK, I missed them too." She slid from his embrace, smoothed back her hair and wiped her face. Chakotay grabbed her hand, "Kathryn, you took your ring off?"

"No I didn't, I just moved it," she said as she pulled her necklace from under her shirt and showed him the ring, on the same chain as her spirit guide lizard. "I thought it would be best to wear it here rather than explain to the crew why I had it, that we didn't really get married. You know them, someone would have noticed and asked about it and rumors would have been rampant at the very least. Don't worry," she said as she tucked it back in, "it will always be right here over my heart. I wouldn't want to lose it, you never know, I might need it again some day."

Chakotay smiled as he resumed the turbolift. "You're right, Kathryn, you never know!"

After spending almost an hour at the impromptu welcome home party, they left for sickbay. The doctor proclaimed them in the best of health and was quite happy that it appeared that they had both been eating properly and getting plenty of exercise and enough sleep. The doctor was even amazed that "20th century alchemy" had managed to heal Kathryn's ankle properly. With the formalities out of the way, they returned to Kathryn's quarters and sorted through the cargo container. Kathryn sorted everything into his and hers piles, so it was obvious she didn't intend for him to share her quarters, although he knew he'd certainly be spending a lot more time there now. He helped her put away her things and returned to his quarters to do the same and change into his uniform. He was disappointed that he would once again be living alone, but decided the best course of action would be to handle the immediate problems that they faced with Starling and then bring up the subject in a few days. Kathryn had promised that, this time, what they had was for keeps and he knew she was not one to break a promise, just one to be slow to let go and make changes. His door chime sounded just as he was putting on his uniform jacket and Kathryn entered.

Chakotay retrieved something from the armchair and smiled as he handed her a sock, "Yours, I believe?" Kathryn grinned as she folded it up and placed it in her pocket. Chakotay also picked up a small gift wrapped box and handed it to her. "This is for you, a last souvenir, a thank you for the sweater too."

She giggled like a child on Christmas morning as she shook the package and then carefully tore off the paper. "Oh, Chakotay, you shouldn't have…a box of Jell-O instant pudding!" She opened the box, carefully unwrapped the contents from the tissue and grinned from ear to ear as she saw it. "Where… where did this come from?"

"I found it on the beach this morning, while you were digging through that pile of kelp."

Kathryn kissed Chakotay on the cheek and carefully put the intact sand dollar back into the box. "Thank you, Chakotay, thank you so much. Well, are you ready to go up to the bridge and see what they've done to our ship?"

"Aye aye, Captain!" She turned to leave and he grabbed her arm to stop her. "Permission to kiss the captain?"

Janeway looked at him sternly, "No, Commander, you may not kiss the captain,…but you can kiss Kathryn, in fact, I order you to."

Chakotay stiffened to attention, "Excuse me, Captain, but I don't believe you can order your first officer to kiss anyone."

"The hell I can't!" she exclaimed as she put her arms around him and kissed him until his tattoo started to fade.

"Captain on the bridge!" announced Tuvok as Janeway and Chakotay stepped from the turbolift. The entire bridge crew stood at attention, with four pip smiles plastered to their faces.

Janeway smiled in return, "At ease. Tuvok, it's so good to see you again, good to see all of you. Report?"

"Captain, Commander, it is indeed agreeable to see you again as well, your presence was greatly missed. I have a full report prepared for you, Captain, perhaps you could join me in my office?"

"Very well." She turned to Chakotay, "Commander, you have the bridge."

"Aye, aye, Captain." As he went to sit in the captain's chair, he stopped himself and picked up a tennis ball and tossed it to Kathryn before he sat.

She looked at it and then to Tuvok. "Have you been playing tennis on the bridge while I was gone, Mr. Tuvok? Who left a tennis ball in my chair?"

"You did, Captain. You placed it there when you left and it has been sitting there ever since. Apparently the crew thought it would be 'bad luck' to move it, so it has been there for months as no one has used your chair since you left. I saw no logic to such quaint Human rituals, however I saw no harm in observing them either…out of respect for the superstitious beliefs of the Human crewmen, of course."

"Of course!" said Kathryn as she rolled her eyes and tossed the tennis ball to Tuvok. They went down to his office and Kathryn looked over the reports he had prepared for her as they had tea. "Thank you, Tuvok, these look most thorough, I'll give them a good read this evening after dinner. I want you to know that I think you and Ensign Kim did a spectacular job commanding Voyager and I intend to recommend you both for commendations." She reached down and handed Tuvok a bag from beside her chair. "Oh, I brought you back a little gift from Earth, Tuvok, I hear you like them."

"That was not necessary, Captain, but thank you." Tuvok opened the Food King bag and removed the boxes, "Ah, Froot Loops, thank you, Captain, thank you very much."

"Tuvok, if I didn't know better, I'd say you just smiled." She touched him on the arm, "Don't worry, you secret's safe with me, my old friend. Here, let me put them up on the shelf for you…what's this?" asked Kathryn as picked up a plaque that had fallen when she moved some books aside to make room for the cereal. She read the text on the plaque aloud: "Buster Burger Employee of the Month Award?" and giggled as she handed it to him. "Don't worry, Tuvok, that secret's safe too!" she winked as she walked out of his office. Tuvok replaced the plaque on the shelf, took down a box of Froot Loops and poured some into a small dish. Sampling them, he nodded with satisfaction as he sat at his desk and took his Game Boy out of the top drawer.

Kathryn checked in with the various department heads and inspected her ship with pride and satisfaction. B'Elanna's anti viral program was working well and ridding all of Voyager's systems of the self replicating mutant virus that had plagued them for so many months; all systems should be fully debugged by 0800. A senior staff meeting was scheduled for 0900 to evaluate the situation with Starling and the stolen time ship and to devise a plan of retrieving it and getting Voyager back to her proper time and course.

Chakotay left the bridge and joined Janeway outside the mess hall at 1800. One glance through the doors told them Neelix's "a little something" would no doubt rival the Starfleet grand balls held to honor visiting heads of planets. Neelix pounced on Janeway and Chakotay as soon as they entered and, in his usual fashion, hugged them all too enthusiastically upon sight.

"Oh, Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay, it's so good to see you again, I missed you so much!" Neelix gushed as he switched between handshakes and Talaxian bear hugs. "Thank you so much for all the food, this is wonderful, I know the crew will really enjoy it, it was so thoughtful of you!"

"Yes, Mr. Neelix," Kathryn said as she detached herself from his Velcro embrace, "We missed you too." Kathryn took a step back from Neelix and looked at him strangely. "Neelix, what's that you've got on your head?"

He put his hand to his bright orange hair, "This? Well, Captain, it's a hairnet, it seems Mr. Tuvok implemented some new regulations for mess hall workers while you were gone, we have to wear hairnets now. Captain, do I really have to wear this ridiculous thing, is it really a Starfleet regulation like Tuvok said?"

Kathryn patted him on the back as she made her hasty retreat. "I'll check into it Mr. Neelix."

Chakotay chuckled as he ushered Kathryn to the serving line. "A hairnet? I didn't even know the replicator could make one, there's no such regulation, where did Tuvok ever get such a silly notion?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea," said Kathryn as she filled her tray. She and Chakotay enjoyed the dinner and attended a party in the holodeck and probably chatted with every single crewmember before they were finally able to sneak away. Kathryn invited Chakotay back to her quarters and they went over Tuvok's reports and made notes for the staff meeting the following morning as they enjoyed some hot cocoa and sugar cookies they had brought back with them.

Chakotay could see that Kathryn was yawning, so he took their cups to the recycler as he spoke, "Well, Kathryn, I can see you're tired and we have a lot to do tomorrow, so I had better go and let you get some sleep." She said nothing. "Unless you want me to stay?"

"Come here, Chakotay, we need to talk. I do want you to stay, but I think maybe we should give it a little time, get through what we need to do and then we can talk some more and make some decisions. I meant what I said before and I'm not backing away, I love you, you know that, but we need to give some thought to what we're going to do, how we're going to handle it with the crew, you know?"

"Yes, Kathryn, I can live with that, as long as you promise this isn't an 'it never happened' thing again."

She put her arms around him and looked into his eyes, "No amnesia this time, I promise." Chakotay kissed her goodnight and headed for the door. "Oh, Chakotay, once this mess is cleared up and we're back on course, don't forget that you and I have a date… and that I have a bathtub."

He eyed her seductively. "We definitely have a date, Kathryn, only this time I'll bring the tub toys and we'll make sure Harry Kim isn't invited. Sleep well, I love you."

Kathryn turned over in her bed again, kicked off the covers and looked at the chronometer. She heard a thump come from the other side of the bulkhead and smiled. "Janeway to Chakotay."

"You can't sleep either?" he replied as he sat up and pushed his blanket aside.

"No, I've been tossing and turning for over an hour, our bed back on earth was more comfortable and I think I miss the sound of the ocean. I always found the gentle hum of the ship soothing before, but now it just seems to irritate me and, even if I put a pillow over my head, I can still hear it… Chakotay!" Kathryn exclaimed as he walked into her bedroom.

"I couldn't sleep either. C'mon and get out of bed, I have something here that I think might help you sleep."

Kathryn got up, put her robe on and ran her fingers through her hair. "OK, Chakotay, what is it?"

"Come into the bathroom, Kathryn." Chakotay took a small box from the pocket of his bathrobe.

"What is it, a sleeping pill? I can't take one, I drank real alcohol tonight, remember?" She got herself a glass of water, took a sip and sat it down on the sink. "What is it?" She looked at the small box and giggled, "Did you replicate me a teensy weensy little ocean?"

"Wouldn't that be nice? No, Kathryn, it's not an ocean."

"Well, what is it then?"

Chakotay kissed her and smoothed her bed tangled hair back from her face as he opened the little box, took out the ring and smiled. "Kathryn, I think you should have a seat on the toilet for this."

**THE END**


End file.
